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Trump Shakes Up Campaign Team; Senate To Vote On Bills Aimed At Preventing Gun Violence; 911 Transcripts Released From Callers in Pulse Nightclub, Including The Shooter. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 20, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:50]

MARK CONANT, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR MARK RUBIO (via telephone): ... a direct mission by Trump. And now there's this orientation that something needs to change. I don't know that firing one person is going to be enough to right the ship. It could very well be the beginning of the end for Trump. In past instance, for example, in 1992, Ross Perot shook up his campaign and then a couple weeks later just dropped out of the race all together because things were heading in the wrong direction. Now we'll see what happens with Trump's campaign.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well let me ask you about that. So donors won't say, "wow, thank God. Got rid of Corey Lewandowski. Now everything's going to be OK." That, you don't think that will happen?

CONANT (via telephone): Well look I mean, everybody knows that Trump is running this campaign on his own. He's the one that makes every major decision, he's the one that goes out and says whatever he wants to say. I don't know that there's a single human on this earth that can walk into that organization and fix things overnight (ph). Because a big part of the problem is Trump. I mean what -- Trump's message is not resonating with the majority of Americans.

To the contrary and a majority of Americans, 70 percent of Americans now, have an unfavorable view of him. And that's after they've had a very good look at him over the last year. So I don't know that it's the staffer that he's stepped in and fixed or, I think there are bigger problems at play here. But we'll see who, we'll see who Trump gets to fill that huge void in this campaign now.

COSTELLO: Dana, you have any idea? No, I don't actually. And the question is whether he will. Or whether or not Paul Manafort, who is the person with whom Corey clashed the most, is just going to step into that role. The other question is whether or not Trump is going to expand the campaign and have an organization that is more even close to the kind that we see in a real campaign that Alex has worked on several times -- many, many times in his life.

And what we have seen now is there are so few people who work there, in part just because that's, again, what worked in the Primaries. But it's a completely different world in the general election. Will they be able to build the team, to hire even basic staff members like staff directors for battleground states. You know, communications team at Trump headquarters. Which they have one person basically, Hope Hicks. And a couple of people who work for her.

Again, the question is whether or not those kinds of positions are going to be expanded and whether the circle of trust is going to be expanded. Or whether or not this is just the way Donald Trump likes to operate. Because he is so incredibly hands-on during the Primaries, that was very much to his benefit. His gut -- following his gut or maybe it was Corey's advice in giving the kind of reaction that he gave to Orlando doubling down on his Muslim ban -- hasn't seemed to work.

And as Alex said, the panic that I have heard from donors, from members of Congress and so forth. From people who weren't on board with Donald Trump but thought that they could get on board with him once he became their candidate, once he began to unify the party. Once these people have not seen that happen and him just doing more of the same, that has contributed to kind of, the situation we are in.

But I also think, remember Donald Trump has a small circle of people he listens to. There is no way that people like his daughter or his sons were not intimately involved in all the right ...

COSTELLO: OK Dana Bash, Alex Conant, thanks for your insight, I appreciate it. All right from the campaign shakeup to the showdown on Capitol Hill, we'll have the latest on the gun control debate. But first a market check. We're watching a major rally for the stock market. Now well up over 200 points to an -- it's up 244 points, wow. I'll be right back.

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[10:37:50]

A showdown is brewing on Capitol Hill over guns and who should be able to buy them. The Senate is set to vote on four measures today. One would make it harder to buy a gun if your name appears on a Federal terror watch list. Gun control advocates are hopeful but that hope may be misplaced. CNN's Manu Raju live in Washington with more on this, good morning.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning Carol. Today the Senate will vote on four measures offered by both Republicans and Democrats, aimed at stemming gun violence. Two deal with background checks, the other two prevent suspected terrorists from getting guns.

Now all four are expected to fail to get the 60 votes needed for passage. Now Democrats who have long pushed an assault weapons ban are now turning their focus instead on trying to deny people who are on terror watch lists, the ability to buy firearms. But Republicans argue that that bill is far too broad and would sweep up innocent Americans.

And they have their own plan to close the so-called terror grab -- gap. And that would give the FBI and courts a say in whether someone should be denied a firearm. But Democrats reject that. So ahead of tonight's vote, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing their positions very hard. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: I admit that the background checks bill is going to be tough to get 60 votes on. But we still have hope that we can get Republicans to support the bill stopping terrorists from getting weapons.

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Republicans have voted consistently to ban people from -- on that list, from having a gun. But to give them an opportunity to prove they shouldn't be on the list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Today -- tonight Senator Collins of Maine will actually introduce a bill that she is promising will be a compromise on this issue. She has the support of five of her colleagues. That bill would bar the sale of a gun to anyone on a no-fly list. And allow for an appeals process for anyone denied the right to buy a gun.

But its chances are uncertain. Still Carol, leaders on both sides of the aisle are not ruling it out quite yet. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju reporting live from Washington, thank you. With me now, Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America. Hi Larry.

LARRY PRATT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA: Hello, good to be with you.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here. Some Republicans are suggesting a compromise measure. They want a three-day waiting period so a judge can decide whether someone on the terror watch list can buy a gun. Is that reasonable?

PRATT: Well it's a step in the right direction but it's not really due process. And all the while they're kind of in the weeds of what the Democrats have been talking about. And neither party is addressing the gorilla in the room, which is all of our mass murders, save two, since 1950 have been in gun-free zones just like the one in Orlando. They're not talking -- the Republican leadership, I think needs to be assaulted ...

COSTELLO: Now wait a minute, in Orlando ... just to, you know -- a minor quibble here -- but there was an armed guard inside that bar the night that terrorist opened fire. So that wasn't a gun free zone.

PRATT: Sure there was. Sure there was. No -- yes it was, because he was the only one. State law prohibited anybody else from having a gun and so they were all unarmed. Once the dirtbag shot his way past the guard, it was open season on helpless victims. And that's the problem with gun-free zones. They are safety only in the minds of those politicians who think it's a good idea. But they don't work and they have failed for decades.

COSTELLO: Well it was a gun-free zone because it was a bar. And when people drink, the State of Florida probably doesn't think it's a very good idea to arm patrons. But that's why.

PRATT: Control the amount of booze you sell them, but don't make them sitting ducks.

COSTELLO: In a bar?

PRATT: In a bar, yes. Oh, it might hurt business. Do --

COSTELLO: That's why you go to a bar.

PRATT: Do you think a mass murder hurts business? That's what gun- free zones do.

COSTELLO: OK well let me run this by you. According to Frank Luntz, he's a Republican pollster, 76 percent of gun owners, including 71 percent of NRA members do not believe someone on the terror watch list should be able to buy a gun. An Orlando gun store manager, a very pro-gun guy, is on board with that. Listen to what he told me.

[10:41:53]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There's no -- I've never been on a terror watch list ...

HECTOR PAGAN, MANAGER, UNIVERSAL WEAPONS: That's not -- and I don't believe that right now they are -- I think they were trying to pass something along those lines. But I'm not sure that it -- that rule has passed. I honestly don't think ...

COSTELLO: Does that bug you?

PAGAN: It -- yes, I'm going to be honest with you, yes it does. Because if you are -- if you're on a watch list where you can't even fly, you shouldn't be able to buy a firearm or any type of weapon, for that matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. And he says when you know one ...

PRATT: Now for us to depend on the right to keep and bear arms on a watch list, means we're going to depend on a list that had Congressman McClintock and the late Senator Kennedy on the same list. That's not really a very good process.

So let's stop getting into the weeds and talking about things that aren't going to really make a difference ...

COSTELLO: Let's, let's get into that Larry ...

PRATT: ... and let's get people guns ...

COSTELLO: ... Let's get into that. Let's get into that, OK? I want to get into that. There are 1.1 million names on the terror watch list. 25,000 of those names are the names of American citizens. And you're right, there have been mistakes. We don't know how many mistakes there have been. Because that's not public knowledge for some reason. But do those mistakes justify allowing every single person on that terror watch list to purchase a firearm?

PRATT: Does a gun-free zone in every one but two of our mass murders justify continuing with gun-free zones? ...

COSTELLO: That's not what I asked you, Larry.

PRATT: But you're not asking the right question. You're trying to get into the weeds ...

COSTELLO: Yes I am, I'm getting into what ...

PRATT: ... and we're not going to make ...

COSTELLO: ... I'm getting into what you were saying. I want to get into it.

PRATT: No, we're not going to make people safe by trying to restrict access to guns. Because bad guys, we have found, get access to guns no matter what. You'll impede it for the good guys. The bad guys will be armed, as they were in the no-gun zone in Orlando.

COSTELLO: But would you want to fly on a plane with someone on the terror watch list? ... would you?

PRATT: You know, frankly, that has been something that's probably occurred. The guy hasn't been convicted of anything -- we have due process in this country -- and if we're going to go down that slippery slope, we're going to end up with ...

COSTELLO: Yeah but would you ...

PRATT: ... somebody making an accusation, and there go your civil rights.

COSTELLO: Would you, Larry want to fly with someone who was on a terror watch list? Would you want to get on board a plane with someone on the terror watch list?

PRATT: Wouldn't bother me a bit because when you can put Senator Kennedy on it, or a Congressman from California on it, the list doesn't mean a whole lot.

COSTELLO: So we should dispose of the terror watch list?

PRATT: We shouldn't be denying people their right to keep and bear arms on the basis of the list. That is a fact. We've got to do something about getting rid of gun-free zones. I don't want to feel safe, I want to be safe. I want to be able to protect myself, I want other people to be able to protect themselves. And going into a gun- free zone is definitely not the way to protect anybody.

COSTELLO: All right, Larry Pratt, thanks so much for stopping by. I appreciate it. PRATT: Thank you.

COSTELLO: We just, we just got word, we got a hold of the transcripts of the 9-1-1 calls on that horrible night in Orlando, from inside that club. We now know some of what the shooter was saying to police. We're going through those transcripts right now. We'll have them for you on the other side of the break. I'll be right back.

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[10:49:30]

COSTELLO: All right as promised I have a -- I have in front of me the transcripts from the 9-1-1 calls that terrible Sunday night. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, in Orlando, inside the Pulse Nightclub. I'm going to bring in Evan Perez, our Justice Correspondent. And also Peter Bergen, our Terrorism Analyst. I'm just going to go through this initially and then I'm going to turn it over to you.

The call came in initially from Pulse, into 9-1-1 at 2:02 a.m. By 2:04, two minutes later, there were officers on the scene. At 2:08, officers from various law enforcement agencies made entrance to Pulse and they engaged the shooter. 2:18 a.m., that's when the SWAT team arrived. At 2:35 the shooter contacted the 9-1-1 operator from inside Pulse. That call lasted approximately 50 seconds. And Evan, I want you to go through the details of that call.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. He actually called 9-1-1 three times. He hung up the first time, the second time hung up again. And then the third time, the 9-1-1 call -- center -- called him, and that's this 50 second phone call that is described in this transcript.

And in the call he simply describes himself as an Islamic soldier. And he said that he had pledged allegiance to ISIS. We now know that -- the name of the terrorist group is redacted from this transcript. The Attorney General yesterday said that simply, so as not to revictimize the victims, but we already know that he pledged allegiance to ISIS.

And he also called on America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq. Which is -- what he said is -- the home of the Islamic State. He wants them out of here right now, he said. When the crisis negotiators were talking to him, he said, "what did you do, who are you?" he says, "you know what I did already. You already know what I did."

The shooter continued to talk to the people outside, saying -- to the negotiators outside -- saying that he had had some bombs. Including inside his vehicle. He said that if anybody tries to pull anything, he would detonate those bombs. And he said in the next few days, you're going to see more of this type of action going on.

And then he hung up. Multiple times the negotiators tried to get in touch with him. These were unsuccessful according to these transcripts. Now we know from -- again, this provides a little bit of a timeline -- between when the first calls come in at 2:02 a.m., when the shooting begins, Carol. And shortly after 5:00 a.m., when the police were able to finally breech and break out the last group of hostages. We know that ...

COSTELLO: Evan I just want to interrupt because I want, I want to read exactly what the shooter said so that we can get a sense of what was in his head, right? So 2:35 a.m., this is that 50 second call. This is the operator, "Emergency 9-1-1, this is being recorded." This is the shooter, "In the name of God the merciful, the beneficial," and then he said something in Arabic.

The operator, "what?" Shooter, "Praise be to God and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God. I let you know I'm in Orlando, I did the shootings." Dispatcher, "what's your name?" Shooter, "My name is I pledge of allegiance to," and that's been omitted. Dispatcher, "OK, what's your name?" Again the shooter says, "I pledge allegiance to," this has been omitted. "May God protect him." And he's saying this in Arabic, "oh the behalf of" this terrorist group that investigators chose to omit.

And then he says he's in Orlando. I want to bring in Peter Bergen. You've read through this. Nowhere in this transcript do I see anything about homosexuals, gay people, lesbians. What does that tell you Peter?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well I think this will help refrain, perhaps, a little bit about how we consider Omar Mateen's motivation. I mean there's extensive discussion in Arabic on these transcripts. There's extensive mentions of his pledge of allegiance to ISIS or Omar Baghdadi, even though it's omitted from the transcript we received.

He talks about the bombings in Syria and Iraq. He also talks about events in France, which seems to be a reference to the Paris attacks by ISIS in November. So I think this, at least in terms of what he was saying to the nine-eleven, 9-1-1 operator, certainly indicates that he was doing this for religious motivations. And doesn't mention, as you say, Carol, anything about gays, homosexuals, or anything -- or any of these kind of, other motivations that we've sort of deemed to be part of this, potentially.

And, you know, the one caution here, of course, these are partial transcripts. Some of the material's been redacted. But there's nothing on here about anything other than somebody who's being motivated, it seems, by Islamist ideology -- or at least his attaching himself to that ideology -- for the purposes of this attack.

COSTELLO: Yes they -- the FBI's going to hold a news conference at the top of the hour so I want to get right through this. So quickly, Evan, at 4:29 a.m., as the victims were being rescued, they told the operator the shooter said he was going to put four vests with bombs on the victims within 15 minutes. And that would certainly explain why the SWAT team took so much time. Staying on the scene and going after the shooter.

PEREZ: That's right Carol, there's been a lot of misunderstanding I think, I think from the, from the first day, about how long this ordeal went on for these victims. Especially the people who were stuck inside the bathroom with him. Which is the his -- which was his final stand, so to speak. Many people in that bathroom died. But the police were able to rescue a lot of people. And the question was why it took so long.

Well there wasn't any more shooting after the first initial exchange of gunfire. A lot of the people who died, unfortunately died right when he first started this attack, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, I've got to end it there. Evan Perez, Peter Bergen, thank you very much. The FBI speaking in just moments so stay with us. That will come your way right after a break. Thank you for joining me today, I'm Carol Costello.

[10:55:30]

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