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President Trump Unleashes A Twitter Tirade Against The Very Same Man Reportedly Investigating His Tweets For Evidence Of Obstruction Of Justice; Tape Recording Released Was Edited; New Numbers On The California Wildfires; The White House Has Now Pushed That Invitation Back To Some Time Next Year; Colombia Drug Traffickers Had Singled Out A Four Leg Member Of An Anti-Trafficking Canine Unit; As Soon As Wednesday, People Will Be Able To Use 3D Printers To Make Their Own Weapons And Weapon Parts. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 29, 2018 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:07] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you for joining us.

Breaking news. President Trump unleashes a twitter tirade against the very same man reportedly investigating his tweets for evidence of obstruction of justice. Yes, you heard that correctly.

Earlier this evening the President called out special counsel Robert Mueller by name alleging he has conflicts of interest, that his investigation is rigged and that he is leading a team of quote "at angry Democrats."

Facts first. Mueller is a registered Republican who last year was cleared by the ethics expert at the department of justice to oversee the Russia investigation. And the timing of the President's attacks are notable coming just days after "The New York Times" reported and Mueller is scrutinizing tweets and negative statements the President has made about attorney general Jeff Sessions and former FBI director James Comey to see if his actions amount to obstruction.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is live near the President's Bedminster golf resort.

And Boris, talk us through these tweets including Trump's claim that he and Mueller has a very nasty and contentious business relationship, his words.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, Ana.

Yes, President Trump launching his precious and most direct attacks on the special counsel Robert Mueller himself via twitter today. I want to put up those tweets now. The President calling the special counsel's investigation illegal at one point and then going on to list what he perceives to be conflicts of interest including this portion I want to highlight.

He writes quote "is Robert Mueller ever going to release his conflicts of interest with respect to President Trump including the fact that we had a very nasty and contentious business relationship?" We reached out to the White House to get clarity on specifically what

the President is talking about there, what he is referring to. They have yet to respond. So we really don't have a clear indication just yet.

But there is previous reporting dating back to earlier this year in "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post." Sources indicating that President Trump had voiced frustration over what he perceived to be conflicts of interest to his own legal team. At one point the President expressing anger over some golf fees that Robert Mueller had allegedly not paid to President Trump's golf club in Virginia.

"The Washington Post" getting a statement from a spokesperson for the special counsel suggesting that argument made by President Trump is inaccurate. I do want to point out the broader scope of that reporting. At least according to "The New York Times," four sources who spoke to them suggested last year President Trump approached his own White House counsel Don McGahn and told him to fire Robert Mueller. McGahn He refused, threatened to resign and that's when President Trump backed down ultimately deciding not to fire the special counsel.

But again, we are seeing this new point of frustration from President Trump with these new attacks. Again, the most direct at Robert Mueller. The backdrop of it important to point out, Ana. Just a few days ago, the President's former attorney Michael Cohen spoke to a number of sources who then told CNN that he was ready to testify to the special counsel that President Trump approved that June 2016 meeting between Russian nationals and his son Donald Trump Jr. and other members of his campaign when those Russians were promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. So the President, obviously, responding to some frustration. And to seeing that coverage in the press, Ana, he also tweeted very angrily at the media today, we should point out.

CABRERA: Yes, he did. He tweeted all over the place.

Boris Sanchez in New Jersey where the President just head back to the White House. Thank you.

A lot to discuss on this Sunday evening.

Joining us now is CNN's senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic" Ron Brownstein and CNN political analyst and "Washington Post" columnist Josh Rogin.

So Ron, clearly, something set the President off. What do you think it is?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think the reporting that Boris noted about Michael Cohen is certainly the most logical precipitating cause here.

But, you know, look. I mean, this is part of a continuing effort to influence in effect the jury pool which will be congressional Republicans. If Bob Mueller comes back with any recommendation that the President -- that the House needs to consider impeachment on the various areas that he is investigating, this is about creating more pressure on Republicans to avoid that.

I would point out this -- these attacks are a perfect microcosm for the Trump presidency both policy and rhetoric because they are having an influence among Republican voters. But among the general public more broadly, it is consolidating uncertainty and moving people away.

I mean there is polling last week, for example, Quinnipiac, 63 percent of the country say they didn't trust the intelligence services over Donald Trump about the impact of Russian interference and the election by 20 points, a 20 point margin. People say the FBI is not biased against him.

And another NPR/Marist poll, 60 percent said he usually often does not tell the truth. It's not like this behavior is cost free for him or for the Republicans in Congress who have chosen to defend it.

[19:05:13] CABRERA: And one of those consequences could be the fact that Mueller is getting more fuel for his fire.

Josh, Mueller said to be scrutinizing Trump's tweets as part of the obstruction of justice investigation. So why launch the tweets when you know he is watching?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's an effort to distract from what the news media and a lot of other people have been focusing on, namely, the fact that Michael Cohen's personal lawyer has been releasing all sorts of new information, new tapes, new recordings, new accusations and all of these not only feed into the Muller investigation but are just super damaging politically and publicly for the President.

I mean, for the President's personal lawyer to accuse him of knowing about the meeting at Trump tower before and approving it before his son and campaign manager and son-in-law met with Russians connected to the Russian government that is a shocking accusation. And although Michael Cohen has very little credibility and Rudy Giuliani has very little credibility and the President has little credibility.

The fact that this is the topic of discussion along with Michael Cohen's playing of the tape that shows that President Trump probably knew about payoffs to his alleged mistress, "Playboy" model, Karen McDougal. All of this is all exactly what the President doesn't want to focus on.

So by putting out all of these tweets, he is trying to shift the conversation as evidence prior conversation here. He is succeeding in that. Ahead of the Monday morning, brand new news cycle, right. He is sending out marching orders to all of his allies in Congress and in the media, don't look over here, look over here. Don't talk about Michael Cohen and Karen McDougal and Russians at Trump tower. Talk about angry Democrats and the witch hunt and all of this stuff.

And you know, again, it's pretty standard practice for the President. I don't think it's going to work in terms of saving him from the actual consequences of these revelations. But it certainly works in changing the conversation. That's him using his bully pulpit which he uses very effectively.

CABRERA: I mean, we were used to this President going after so-called enemies, going after competitors. He is not afraid to call people out by name, sloppy Steve, right? I mean there's crooked Hillary. And, yet, he hasn't been attacking Michael Cohen by name today. Instead, he is going after Mueller.

Ron, why do you think that is?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, Michael Cohen can do a lot of damage to Donald Trump. You know, he has been -- he has been right in the middle of everything for many years. There's a lot that he knows. I'm sure it is a very unnerving situation for the President to have Michael Cohen, you know, signaling that he wants to cooperate with investigators, bringing on Lanny Davis late of the Clinton defense to be, you know, his lawyer and kind of public relations consultant. All of that are kind of ominous, you know, directions for the President.

But I would point out that there is kind of a broader pattern here which is, you know, twofold. One, the President needs conflict. That is what he believes is the essence of his political strength. There is always a fight. You know, whether -- a couple days ago it was revoking security clearances for former officials. You know, it could be NFL players. It could be pop culture figures. He believers he needs to show his base that he is fighting all of the time, that he is breaking the glass on their behalf.

But as I said, there is a cost to that. A cost in exhaustion among many swing voters, particularly white collar voters and that is where the Republican risk is the greatest. I mean, we have the special election coming up in Ohio in a couple weeks. Another district that should be safely Republican but because of the revolt in the suburbs that they are facing, it is now a nail biter for the GOP and that is where the vulnerability where we concentrated in November.

And, again, this kind of behavior by the Republican -- about it President and the decision by House Republicans not only to defend it but to abet it in many cases by, you know, working against the investigation, that is the core -- that magnifies their risk in the places their most vulnerable.

CABRERA: We are looking at images right of the air force one expecting the President to walk off that plane as he heads back to the White House as joint Base Andrews right now in Maryland coming back from his weekend at his golf resort in New Jersey. So we will just keep this up. If he comes in and addresses the media, of course, we will be listening in.

In the meantime, Josh, one of his tweets today, he is threatening to shutdown the government unless Democrats don't agree to build a border wall. And let's not forget, he said all along, Mexico is going to pay for that wall. But this is just 100 days out from the Midterms. Does this do more to help or hurt Republicans in November?

ROGIN: He is putting his Republican allies in Congress in an impossible position because, of course, they don't have the leverage to get Democrats to agree to a border wall funding. If they did, they would have used it already in these past 18 months. And also they know something that he may or may not acknowledge which is that if he shuts down the government, that's bad for them, OK. It is - he is not up for election, but they are. And so they really can't afford to take the risk of having a big government shutdown even over the border wall, even if it's popular before this midterm.

So, you know, again, sort of like, you know, let's throw out a bunch of empty threats. Let's put all -- everybody that's on our side into a terrible political bind. And then, you know, rant and rave until something shakes out. That's the President's strategy.

It doesn't seem to be working. We don't have the border wall funding. He's not making progress on it. It's not clear to me why this threat is different from that any of the other 100 times that he made it. But again, it's -- he thinks it's a good issue politically for him. There is no cost to him personally for making the threats. So he thinks why not just do it and see what happens. Who knows, it may work.

[19:10:44] CABRERA: Ron, I want to get your take but quickly because we are almost out of time for this.

BROWNSTEIN: Real quick. There is a political vision under this threat. The President consistently believes that the way to avoid the usual midterm losses is increase turnout among the Republican base. And he is one after the other kind of generated the fights that we are talking about in an effort to try to gin that up.

The problem is, the price of all of this is, again, a level of conflict that many swing voters are uncomfortable. The idea of shutting down the government over a border wall is 60 percent of the country consistently opposes in polls is exactly the sort of thing I think that manufacture the Democrats running in the swing suburban districts would love to see in the final weeks before the election.

Having said that, if he can generate more Republican turnout, it really does increase the pressure on democratic constituencies to oppose this ideas to actually show up in greater numbers than they usually do in midterms both minority voters and millennial voters. That's been a huge problem for Democrats. A falloff from the Presidential to midterm. Mixed evidence in the polling about whether it's going to be different this time. The President is kind of putting the ball in their court by so overtly and consistently putting out ideas that are really designed to animate his base and are absolutely noxious to the democratic base.

CABRERA: Again, live pictures right now at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The President returning from his weekend in New Jersey. Looks like he has some grandkids in tow. The question is what he is going to be walking back into the White House in the week ahead?

Ron Brownstein and Josh Rogin, thank you both for that analysis.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Ana. In the meantime, if you didn't think there could be another twist in a

story that already involve this President, a secret tape and plans to pay off a "Playboy" model. Surprise.

Tonight Trump's team wants you to know you are not hearing what you think you're hearing in that audio released by the President's former fixer Michael Cohen. First, a reminder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So what do we have to pay for this?

MICHAEL COHEN, TRUMP'S FORMER ATTORNEY: Funding -- yes. And it is all the stuff.

TRUMP: Yes, I was thinking about that.

COHEN: All the stuff. Because here you never know where that company --

TRUMP: Maybe he gets hit by a truck.

COHEN: Correct. So I'm all over that. And I spoke to Allen about it. When it comes time for the financing which will be --

TRUMP: Wait a sec, what financing?

COHEN: Well, I'll have to pay him something.

TRUMP: Pay with cash.

COHEN: No, no, no, no. I have got.

TRUMP: Check.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: When taken at face value, the tape suggests then candidate Trump knew about possible payments aimed at keeping Karen McDougal's allegations of an affair quiet. But now Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani is previewing a new line of defense that the tapes were tampered with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: He abruptly ended that recording as soon as the President said the word check. We are now -- what we are investigating is why -- how did that happen? What actually did happen? What was eliminated? And then he has got to raise that question with every one of these tapes. How many of them are -- did he play around with? We have determined the fact that he tampered with the tape in a sense that he abruptly mid conversation turned it off. Now we know he didn't do that for a good reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: We don't know what the reason was for the end of that tape.

And joining us now to discuss what may have happened there, Ed Primeau, he is one of the nation's audio forensic experts with 30 plus years of experience.

Ed, great to have you with us. Earlier this week you confirmed to my colleague Chris Cuomo that the tape was in fact edited. And I want to dig into that issue specifically. Since that seems to be a point of contention right now. What does your analysis tell you about what was modified and when it happened?

ED PRIMEAU, AUDIO FORENSIC EXPERT: Well, the recording was created using the voice memo app on an iPhone 5. I can see the operating system in the data. And in the voice memo application, there is a feature or a function called trim. So I believe the recording was edited in the voice memo app. But the biggest problem that we have here, it's a misrepresentation of the events as they occurred.

When I testified in court previously, and I've testified dozens of times, the recordings that are presented, if they Are edited, then the trier of fact, judge and jury, need to be made aware of the fact that it was shortened. In this particular case, we have a recording that ends with a butt edit. It is very visible and in any program that you can view the sounds spectrum and you can notice that the ending has some -- a couple different words on it. Why that is like that, I don't know. But it is not an authentic recording and it certainly is not the original.

[19:15:25] CABRERA: Let's listen to that part of the audio again this time slowed down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: When it comes time for the financing which will be --

TRUMP: Listen, what financing?

COHEN: We'll have to pay. No. No. No. I got -- no. No.

TRUMP: A check.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So you have said that the data tells you this recording was modified four seconds after it was created. I mean, just four seconds later. I'm trying to make sense of that. Can you specify what kind of modification?

PRIMEAU: Well, there was an edit, obviously. I recreated the edit today by making a recording on an iPhone 5 that had an operating system more recent. It was actually 10.2. The original recording that I could see in the meta data was created on an iPhone 5 with the operating system 9.3.

So I didn't do any research to learn how many updates away that was from where this recording was created. But what is important here is that it was created in a voice memo app that is capable of editing. It has a trim feature in it.

CABRERA: So could an incoming call or running out of battery have been the reason for that abrupt ending? Or did somebody have to physically do it themselves?

PRIMEAU: I believe that it was actually edited. Somebody actually ended the recording there using the trim function and voice memo app. That is my theory at this point. And that's the science that I have observed up to this point.

CABRERA: Is there evidence that something was actually deleted?

PRIMEAU: No. Not anything that I could see. Other than knowing that it was edited and the conversation appears to continue. Because it was edited right after the ck in check or if that is the word check.

CABRERA: And let me just confirm with you, too. There is not evidence that anything before that moment had been edited?

PRIMEAU: Not that I've seen, no.

CABRERA: OK. Ed Primeau, thank you for giving us your expertise, helping us better understand what we are dealing with when it come to this piece of potential evident. We appreciate it.

PRIMEAU: You are very welcome.

CABRERA: Coming up, let's head out west. There is a deadly inferno right now. A wind driven blaze leveling neighborhoods, amid triple digit temperatures. We will take you live to California.

Plus, unraveling the mystery of Amelia Earhart. Hear from the researcher who says the famed aviator's final pleas for help were broadcast around the world.

And later, meet the top target for a dangerous cartel. A 6-year-old German Shepard who sniffs out their drugs. And now has a big bounty on her head.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:22:19] CABRERA: I have new numbers on the California wildfires. The death of a firefighter this morning now brings the confirmed death toll to six and at least seven people are still missing. There is also a warning as night fall nears. Conditions are ripe for this inferno to become even more dangerous and more explosive than what firefighters have already seen. This is the Cal fire near Reading. It is moving so fast it is so erratic that fire crews have barely managed to contain five percent of it that is after fighting it for a whole week.

CNN's Dan Simon is joining us live from Redding.

And Dan, just tell us, show us, what you are seeing there and experience there.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Ana. Conditions remain challenging. But really, for the first time, fire crews are expressing optimism about the overall effort. I will talk to you about that in a second.

But first, we are in the Lake Redding estates neighborhood. And it is just amazing when you walk around and see some of the devastation. Check out this trash can which is just totally melted. And then look at this over here on this driveway. You can see, you have what was a garden hose right here. I mean you can just fall apart.

So in terms of the overall fire fighting effort, the containment number right now is at five percent. But just a moment ago crews were saying that the collective effort appears to be working. You have 3500 firefighters here on the line. You have a lot of aircraft dumping water. And this is what the incident commander said about that. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT GOUVEIA, CAL FIRE INCIDENT COMMANDER: We are going to continue to work hard to get direct line on this thing. I think by tonight you will start seeing containment percentages increase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: So that is the first time they have actually said that it looks like they're turning a corner with this blaze. Not to put words in his mouth, but that's how I think you can interpret that which is great news. Because for the last several days, this region really has been paralyzed with nearly 40,000 people under an evacuation order. All of the hotels are full. You have the shelters. A lot of them are full as well. So these people, as you can imagine, are so anxious to get back into their homes. Hopefully they will have a home to come back to -- Ana.

CABRERA: Sadly, too many people don't. Thank you, Dan Simon.

Coming up, agents parade. The Russian President shows off his military might as the American President molds an invitation to Moscow. What could all this mean for U.S.-Russians relations? Your weekend presidential brief is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:29:16] CABRERA: Russia is flexing its military might. Showcasing its power on both land and sea today at its annual Navy day parade including a submarine nicknamed the carrier killer. This is designed to hunt U.S. craft carriers. This latest show of Russian military power comes just two days after Vladimir Putin said he invited President Trump to Moscow. But only under certain necessary conditions. Putin also says he's ready to go to Washington to continue talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are ready for such meetings. We are ready to invite President Trump to Moscow to be my guest. He has such an invitation, I told him that. And I'm ready to go to Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Trump had originally invited Putin to come to Washington this fall shocking many in Washington including the director of national intelligence. The White House has now pushed that invitation back to some time next year. And that brings us to your weekend Presidential brief, a segment we bring you every Sunday night highlighting the most pressing national security information the President will need when he wakes up tomorrow.

And joining us now is CNN national security analyst and former national security council adviser Sam Vinograd. She spent two years in the Obama administration helping to prep for the president's daily briefs.

So Sam, as we just saw Putin there showing off this military might with the Navy day parade. Do you think we will see more signs of force?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it's interesting. Russia's military budget actually decreased in 2017 for the first time in 20 years. And we have seen Putin rely on some unconventional assets that are cheaper like cyber attacks and information warfare. And more recently, he has been directly messaging President Trump through the media. It's cheap and it's easy. We have this whole (INAUDIBLE) over a second summit. It wasn't negotiated behind closed doors.

Trump issued an invitation publicly. Putin responded publicly. And it really looked like President Trump was responsive to media criticism and Putin's direction rather than U.S. national security interests.

And on Friday, Putin complimented and threatened President Trump in the same press conference. He complimented his track record on keeping campaign promises to butter him up. And then threatened President Trump and U.S. economic growth by linking sanctions against Russia to the dollar. So I think President Putin is very aware that the way to get President Trump's attention is through direct public messaging.

CABRERA: And now you are saying that the way this all played out is not normal.

Let's talk about North Korea because we also had developments there this week and with all the other news that may have been buried that remains of what we believe to be U.S. war victims were given back to the U.S. officials. Do you believe this is a sign that North Korea is indeed following through on the promises?

VINOGRAD: I don't think we have seen any signs that North Korea is actually denuclearizing. Secretary Pompeo testified publicly last week that they continue to produce this material. They are continuing to make nuclear weapons. They may have kept two of the promises from Singapore. They are dismantling a second test site not because they are denuclearizing but because they don't need to test anymore. And as you mentioned, that they may have returned 55 sets of remains, we have to test to see if they are actually American, again keeping a promise. But none of this is related to actual denuclearization. And my fear is they are going to ask for something in return. Kim has price tag for everything. And China has already supported lifting sanctions on North Korea. So we could see them moving in that direction.

CABRERA: North Korea got a lot of its technology, nuclear technology from Pakistan. Pakistan getting ready to swear in a new prime minister, Inram Khan. What will he mean for U.S. national security?

VINOGRAD: Well, Imran Khan is actually been compared to President Trump in the past few weeks because of his celebrity past and nationalist and some populist platforms. But I think the bilateral relationship when Inram Khan takes the premiership is going to be under pressure.

Khan criticize the U.S. drone strikes. He has criticized our war in Afghanistan. And he said that U.S. is a destabilizing force in Pakistan. So we could see us moving further apart. But Khan may move closer to our enemies and rivals. He has been accused of being sympathetic to the Taliban and he says he wants a closer relationship with China who is pouring billions of dollars into Pakistan. So China is spending more. We decreased our security assistance. And so we may lose more leverage.

CABRERA: All right. Thank you so much, Sam Vinograd. Always good to see you:

Coming up, it is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in history. But now a new clue on what may have happened to Amelia Earhart during that doomed flight around the world. Hear from the researcher who says he has the proof to close this case for good.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:07] CABRERA: Welcome back. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

I'm about to talk to a man who says he cracked one of the world's most mysterious and disputed missing person's cases, Amelia Earhart. The aviation pioneer who vanished during an attempt to fly around the world, that was in 1937. It happened here somewhere in the Pacific Ocean between the islands of Southeast Asia and Hawaii. Investigators and historians and aviation experts they disagreed for more than 80 years about what happened to Amelia Earhart. Did she crash in the ocean and drown? Was she marooned on an island? Died there stranded? Was she taken prisoner by the Japanese? There are many more theories some of them perhaps believable, some of them kind of crazy. Ric Gillespie is a pilot and a crash investigator who has obsessed

over this mystery for the past 30 or so years. He now says with confidence case closed.

So Ric, I can't wait to hear all about it. What happened to Amelia Earhart and what is your evidence?

RIC GILLESPIE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY: Well, the case is closed but we are not finished with the investigation by any means. We have been, as you said, working for 30 years. And we have evidence from various sources that point to the same conclusion.

Here's what we think happened. The red line on the map behind me represents Amelia's intended route to Howland island. She had trouble finding Howland island. In the last radio message she was heard to say while she was in flight, she said she was running on a line represented by the blue line. That line led her to another island. At that time it was called Gardener Island, today it is (INAUDIBLE).

There is an abundance of evidence she did land in (INAUDIBLE). Artifacts that we found there. And radio signals that were sent from there and widely heard and believed. And bones that were found there in 1940, three years after she disappeared, that those bones now disappeared but the measurements taken were analyzed by world famous forensic anthropologist earlier this year who concluded that there is a better than 99 percent chance that the cast away of Gardener island was Amelia Earhart. We are confident that we know what happened to her.

[19:40:31] CABRERA: I mean, the latest information that I read about this week was that the distressed calls seem to be a key piece of evidence. How so?

GILLESPIE: That's right. That's right. We just released a new study of the radio distress calls that were heard for at least five nights after she disappeared. Widely believed at the time, you look at the headlines and it's we hear Amelia's paint (ph) calls. There are official word. They are genuine. And that's why the U.S. Navy sent a battleship from Hawaii 2,000 miles to this island to see if there was an airplane there sending the signals. Because the airplane could only send radio signals if it was not only on land but on its wheels and able to operate the right hand engine, the right hand engine with the generator to recharge the battery.

So she didn't crash anywhere. She made a safe landing on the reef that surrounds this island. Dries at low tide. Smooth as a runway. But the tide comes in and the tide goes out. And by the time the Navy got there, rising tides and surf washed the airplane into the ocean so when the U.S. Navy planes through over the island, they didn't see an airplane. They concluded, therefore all the signals you some have somehow been bogus and they spent the rest of the search looking in the open ocean for floating wreckage or life raft and found nothing an concluding she crashed at sea.

We went back and studied all those radio distress calls and find that there is no way they could have been hoaxes or misunderstandings. They came from that island. Directional bearings, cross at that island at least for five -- it is rock solid.

CABRERA: How long did it take you to analysis all of this?

GILLESPIE: Well, let's see. First we had to assemble all the original source information from the original radio logs. Then when have to correct them for chronology, get all the time zones corrected and some of the time zones change over the years. And then you have to analyze the call themselves whether frequency and the probability that they could be heard. It's sophisticated computerized stuff. And then you say what story is this telling us? Which messages, which reported messages can be genuine and which are credible beyond a reasonable doubt? And of the 120 reported alleged signals that were heard, we find that 57 of them are credible and among them there are about two dozen that are credible beyond a reasonable doubt. They had to be coming from that island.

CABRERA: Wow. Incredible the research that you've done and the time that you spent is just fascinating.

Ric Gillespie, thank you for sharing it with us.

GILLESPIE: And it hasn't been me. It's the organization that I represent. Tiger, the international group for historic aircraft recovery. And they are the ones that did the work.

CABRERA: You're very humble. I'm sure they appreciate that shout out, Ric. And you represent them well.

Coming up, a drug sniffing pooch so good at her job she is now in serious danger. Meet this German Shepard with a $70,000 bounty on her head because a Colombian cartel wants her gone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:11] CABRERA: You have heard stories about criminals putting a bounty on enemies including police officers. But in Colombia drug traffickers had singled out a four leg member of an anti-trafficking canine unit. Yes, you heard that right. We are talking about a drug sniffing police dog. Her name is Sombra. She is a 6-year-old German Shepard.

And CNN's Rafael Romo is joining us live from Atlanta with the details on this.

Rafael, what made this dog such a formidable threat to criminals?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Yes. Well, Sombra, her name means shadow in Spanish, by the way, is one of 246 four legged members of the Colombian national police, canine unit.

What makes her such a threat, you ask. Well, police say the German shepherd has participated in 300 anti-drug trafficking operations around Colombia and helped in capturing, listen to this, at least, Ana, at least 245 suspects. She has been able to sniff out about nine metric tons of cocaine in multiple operations targeting (INAUDIBLE), one of Colombia's most powerful criminal groups.

Police call her the torment of autonian (ph), referring to (INAUDIBLE), the head of (INAUDIBLE) whose name is on the list of Colombia's most wanted.

And listen to this, Ana. She also found about 100 kilos of cocaine that people carried inside their bodies or in secret luggage compartments at the airport. Quite a resume for this distinguished member of the canine unit, Ana.

CABRERA: She has been busy, no doubt. How do police learn that a bounty had been placed on her head?

ROMO: Yes. We asked police that very question. And the colonel told us that during their routine intelligence work and surveillance operations they learned that a two million peso bounty which is about $75,000 had been put on her head. The handlers immediately made the decision to transfer Sombra to a less dangerous unit. But make no mistake about it, Ana, she is still fighting drug trafficking and doing what she does best.

[19:50:06] CABRERA: So have police changed anything in order to protect her now that she is a target?

ROMO: Yes, most definitely. She will be constantly relocated around Colombia to make it, let's say, more difficult for criminals to find about her whereabouts. She has already won two canine medals for bravery and her service to the Colombian people. And one more thing, Ana, she is due to retire in a couple of years. So she is going to be safer then. Back to you.

CABRERA: All right, Rafael Romo. I'm a dog lover. So thank you for sharing her story.

Starting this week, anyone including criminals and convicted felons will be able to download plans and use a 3D printer to make a gun. A gun that will not be traceable by law enforcement and can slip past metal detectors. And President Trump's state department is allowing this to happen. Details on the gun and why they are going to be just a click away just ahead.

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[19:55:24] CABRERA: Beginning Wednesday, anyone with access to the internet will be able to bypass gun background checks and download a file that allow them to make a plastic gun like this one using a 3D printer. Gun control advocates call these new digital firearms a threat to public safety and national security.

CNN's Athena Jones has the details.

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ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It could be the dawn of a new era in gun manufacturing. Starting as soon as Wednesday, people will be able to use 3D printers to make their own weapons and weapon parts. No background check required. This after the government settled a lawsuit last month with the non-profit group defense distributed that would allow the posting of 3D printable gun plans online, a move that's triggering a debate about public safety and national security.

The group's founder Cody Wilson has built a Web site where people will be able to download plans for a handgun he dubs the liberator as well as digital files for a complete Barretta M-9 handgun and other firearms. Wilson's legal battle began after he posted handgun blueprints online in 2013, leading to a demand from the state department to take them down because they could violate a law regulating the export of defense materials, services and technical data like blueprints. Wilson explained his goal in a 2013 interview.

CODY WILSON, FOUNDER, DEFENSE DISTRIBUTED: I'm putting guns -- one is an exercise in, I don't know, experimentalism, can you print a gun. But really for me it's important, it's like a symbolic political statement.

JONES: He described a future in which people could access unregulated guns.

WILSON: In this future people would be able to make guns for themselves. That was already true but now it's been demonstrated in yet another technology.

JONES: The June 29th settlement will also allow Wilson's site to post online plans for an AR-15 lower receiver, a key component of the gun. Gun control advocates fear these firearms made almost entirely of plastic would be untraceable and impossible to regulate. The co- President of the Brady campaign to prevent gun violence says these hard to detect guns would be a national security threat making it easier for terrorists and people who can't pass criminal background checks to get their hands on dangerous weapons, adding "I think everybody in America ought to be terrified about that."

But experts like Lawrence Keane, a senior vice President for the national shooting sports foundation, the firearm industry's trade association, say 3D printed guns would have to include metal components to function and because federal law requires it.

LAWRENCE KEANE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS FOUNDATION: Federal law since the mid 1980s under the undetectable firearms act requires a certain amount of metal so they are not undetectable and can't go through metal detectors undetected or x-ray machines.

JONES: Even with those metal components the guns would not work well.

KEANE: The truth is that they don't. Many times they fail after a single shot being fired, they break. They are not very durable and they really don't work.

JONES: He said the sort of high-end printer that would be need to make a gun costs as much as a quarter of a million dollars and the resulting weapons' unreliability means the country is unlikely to see a rush of people trying to print their own guns.

New York senator Chuck Schumer expressed similar concerns back in 2013.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY LEADER: A felon, a terrorist can make a gun in the comfort of their home, not even leaving their home, and do terrible damage with it. And so the question is what we do about it.

JONES: Last week he demanded the state department and the department of justice reverse the decision or postpone finalizing it and said that if they don't he would use emergency congressional actions to block those gun websites.

SCHUMER: So we are here to sound the alarm. We are here to plead with the administration not to allow these types of websites to go forward, which they're planning to on August 1st, and we are here to say we'll pass legislation if the special Web site is allowed.

JONES: Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: We have is this just in to CNN. Civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis has been given a clean bill of health after spending the night in a hospital. Lewis apparently became ill on a flight to Atlanta yesterday. His spokeswoman telling CNN the congressman thanks everyone who shared their thoughts, their prayers and concerns during his hospital stay. Again now out of the hospital. Good to hear that.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. So glad to have you with us.

And we have breaking news. The President angry, lashing out, going off on twitter by attack Robert Mueller, the free press, and even threatening a government shutdown if Democrats won't agree to pay for his border wall.

The President arrived at the White House just a few minutes ago. It's unclear right now if he'll continue his tirade once he settled in for the night. It's also unclear what exactly has set him off. But it could be a number of things. As we told you, his former attorney and lawyer --