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Erin Burnett Outfront

FBI Investigating Whether Wife Knew About Plot; FBI Eyeing Killer's Possible Use of Gay Dating Apps; Trump: Obama "More Angry at Me Than At The Shooter; Orlando Survivor: "There's No Way" Gunman Acted Alone. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 14, 2016 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:09] ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, we are live from Orlando tonight with the breaking news at this hour. New information just coming into CNN about the Orlando shooter's wife, the gunman apparently telling her he wanted to carry out a jihadist attack. The breaking details are next.

Plus, witnesses say they saw the shooter at Pulse nightclub regularly. The FBI now investigating whether he used gay messaging apps.

All that and Donald Trump and Barack Obama fighting today, let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett OUTFRONT tonight. We begin with the breaking news here in Orlando. The Orlando shooter's wife now telling FBI investigators that her husband Omar Mateen had violent changes in his behavior and talked about carrying out a Jihadist attack. Noor Salman seen here with Mateen and their young son telling officials that she tried to talk her husband out of doing anything violent, at the same time she denies that she knew about his plan to attack the nightclub specifically. This, of course, as we understand that she never said anything to authorities about this until now.

New details are emerging about the shooter. Multiple witnesses saying Mateen was a regular visitor to the Pulse nightclub. A performer there telling us he was a familiar face at the gay club, another saying Mateen may have gone there as recently as twice a month over a three-year period. Also today, at least two eyewitnesses with a shocking charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEYDIANA PUYANERA, WITNESS TO SHOOTING: I saw a white man, a white male, his face didn't look like he was scared, so definitely knew it was more than one shooter.

PATIENCE CARTER, WITNESS TO SHOOTING: It sounded as if he was communicating with other people who were involved with it. I honestly feel like I don't think he was able to pull that off all by himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: We have so much to get to in this hour. With the breaking details, we begin with Jim Sciutto. And Jim, what are you learning at this moment about the shooter's wife? I mean, this is pretty stunning that she said she knew he wanted to carry out a terrorist attack.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No question. We knew that she is in under active investigation. The focus is on, did she know enough to tell police and prevent this attack from happening? She as you said, she knew that she was planning some sort of Jihadist attack. But then she did not know that it was here. That she tried to stop him. Investigators now trying to figure out if there is enough for criminal charges that she did not warn and keep this attack from happening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Tonight investigators are investigating whether Omar Mateen's wife may have known about her husband's deadly plans to attack Pulse nightclub but did not alert law enforcement before the shooting rampage.

ANGEL COLON, SHOOTING SURVIVOR: He's shooting everyone on the floor making sure they're dead.

SCIUTTO: A survivor of the attack still in the hospital today described a chilling scene.

COLON: I look over and he shoots the girl next to me and I'm just there laying down thinking, I'm next, I'm dead. So I don't know how but by the glory of God he shoots towards my head but it hits my hand and then he shoots me again and it hits the side of my hip.

SCIUTTO: Tonight new evidence is emerging that suggests the shooter may have considered other targets. Officials are tracking Mateen's whereabouts in the weeks and months leading up to the attack. Investigators say cell phone tower data indicates Mateen spent several hours at Disney Springs, a shopping and entertainment complex on Saturday just before the attack at the nightclub early Sunday morning.

CNN has learned Mateen also visited Disney Springs and Pulse nightclub at the beginning of June, the dates June 1st to the 6th coinciding with gay pride celebrations taking place at Disneyworld and other locations in Orlando. Disney security officials told the FBI they believe the shooter was scouting the Disneyworld Park when Mateen visited there with his wife in April. At the Mateen's home, the FBI seized documents, advil (ph) computer, a smart phone and a digital camera.

Analysis of its electronic devices shows searches for Jihadi propaganda including videos of ISIS beheadings and information on Anwar Al Awlaki, the radical American cleric that joined al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. And was killed in an American drone strike.

PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: The killer took in extremist information and propaganda over the internet. He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SCIUTTO: And tonight, new information about the shooter. We learned

today that on May 29th, just days before he killed 49 people here, Omar Mateen donated blood in Fort Pierce, Florida, just two hours from here. Staff there recognized his face from the news after the attack, they checked and confirmed that it was him by his name that donated the blood there. This is part of that increasingly confusing profile. What kind of person would make that generous act of donating blood just days before this horrendous act, this horrific act here?

[19:05:29] BURNETT: -- or deeply sick.

SCIUTTO: Right. No question.

BURNETT: All right. Jim Sciutto, thank you very much. And for more on the shooter's wife because these developments are truly stunning, you know, that she said she knew he wanted to carry out a terror attack. She did not say anything.

Jessica Schneider is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Noor Salman, the wife of the gunman Omar Mateen leaving her home under police escort. Authorities questioning her about the man she married in 2011, the father of her three-year-old son. Tonight a law enforcement source telling CNN that Salman tried to dissuade her husband from doing anything violent although Salman denied knowing Mateen's plot to carry out the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.

Salman also telling authorities her husband had become violent and had talked to her about wanting to carry out a jihadist attack. A source close to the family tells CNN, Salman is fully cooperating with the FBI and local authorities saying all of us will do anything to help and cooperate with them. A source of the couple's mosque in Fort Pierce telling OUTFRONT, Salman was not nearly as devout as her husband, only coming to the mosque once in the past two months for a party. Mateen went three to four times in a week. Mateen's first wife describing OUTFRONT how their marriage unraveled.

SITORA YUSUFIY, EX-WIFE OF ORLANDO SHOOTER: One minute he would be fine and another minute he would be really angry, violent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: The gunman's widow leaving her home here at this Fort Pierce condo complex overnight with law enforcement officials to be interviewed. Officials, of course, still trying to figure out exactly what she knew and if she should be charged -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jessica. And I want to go straight now to Congressman Alan Grayson, he is a Democrat here representing Orlando and was just briefed I know. Top secret briefing this afternoon.

Congressman Grayson, thank you for coming back on the show. You were just briefed by the FBI director, the Homeland Security secretary. What are you learning about the shooter's wife's role? We understand that she's now telling investigators she knew he wanted to carry out a terror attack. She is saying she didn't specifically know about this attack.

REP. ALAN GRAYSON (D), FLORIDA, DISTRICTS INCLUDE ORLANDO: Well, we didn't learn anything other than what you already reported. We didn't focus on that. The focus was entirely on what could have been done to prevent this if anything and what could be done in the future to prevent it from happening elsewhere, that's what the focus the briefing is all about. A number of members expressed concern that someone like this was able to buy an assault weapon and that was not immediately picked up for further review by the FBI.

BURNETT: Congressman, what do you -- obviously that was a crucial question here but what we're understanding about the wife's role here is that he had talked to his wife about wanting to carry out a terror attack. In fact, investigators are now saying that when they came to a Disney property and when they came actually here together to the Pulse nightclub, he was scouting locations. It's unclear whether she knew that at the time or not. Question to you, sir, as a congressman representing this city, should she face charges?

GRAYSON: Oh, I don't have all the information the FBI has. I don't think that I'm in a position to answer that. I'm not the prosecutor. I'm not the judge. I'm not the jury. But I will tell you that the FBI relies extremely heavily on people like her coming forward. The reason why Mateen was brought to people's attention, the FBI's attention in the first place is because of informants, people who came, contact with the FBI and other law enforcement officials said, this guy has got a screw loose, you need to go and talk to him.

He's saying all these jihadist things in public places and we're concerned about whether he's going to do something terrible. His wife was in the same position to do that, she decided not to step forward. That was a decision that she and only she could make. But the reason why he was brought to people's attention in first place is that people like her who heard what he was saying stepped forward and contacted the FBI and law enforcement.

BURNETT: So, I mean, they went to the same mosque as an American suicide bomber. I was at that mosque. That small converted church in Fort Pierce yesterday. A member there who knew them both said, he didn't knew they were radicalized. There are worries that there could be others in the same mosque. As you know, it's very small Muslim community there in the Fort Pierce area. Are you worried that there are others?

GRAYSON: Well, there is no evidence of that at this time, but we're counting on the FBI and local law enforcement to do a very thorough job and they are doing a very thorough job. They are speaking to anybody who steps forward, anybody who likely had any contact with him. They are going through his phone records, they are going through his social media accounts. They are basically contacting everybody and that, of course, includes people at his mosque.

[19:10:03] BURNETT: All right. Congressman Grayson, thank you very much.

And here with me now in Orlando, Bob Baer, former CIA operative. Art Roderick, former U.S. Marshal.

All right. I want to talk about whether there are others involved as we were just talking but also about the wife. The wife said she knew Bob that he wanted to carry out a terror attack. She had come with him to this gay nightclub. She had come with him to Disney. Unclear if she knew those were scouting trips or not. She said she didn't know about the specific attack but she didn't say anything at all.

ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Erin, you know, I think she's culpable. I mean, if she knew he was going to do violence, she should have gone to the police, to the FBI. All of these attacks we call them loaner attacks but in fact, people inside the family know it's more of a cluster of people. Suspect, they may not know the exact attack and if families don't come forward, whether it's their children, brothers or sisters, these attacks are going to continue. You can't expect the FBI to get inside families. And if they're not going to talk, this is what we get.

BURNETT: She should be charged?

ART RODERICK, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR INVESTIGATIONS, U.S. MARSHALS: Absolutely. I mean, conspiracy charge is very easy to charge under the federal statute and if he was saying that he was going to commit these acts and she actually drove him to pick up the ammunition, that's an overt act that goes to a federal conspiracy. She can be charged.

Now, whether they're holding off that charge until maybe she's providing more information, maybe she's cooperating, we don't know that yet. Only the FBI knew that. But it sounds to me like if she's talking about him actually talking about jihadist attacks and she took him someplace, then that's conspiracy.

BURNETT: Bob, if she knew generally that he wanted to do something like this, could there be others? You know, I was at that mosque. There are now two ISIS bombers, supporters, murderers who have come out of this one small mosque. The man I talked to says, of course he's worried that there could be others.

BAER: Erin, last year law enforcement in Florida told me they have hundreds of people on suspect lists. They can't prove anything. They are all capable. There is a big, a lot of cells in Florida and they stated this long before this happened, of course, and they were right. And the question is, how do you arrest these people when they haven't committed a crime? And it's -- they would like to haul them in and hold them but they can't legally.

BURNETT: Multiple cells.

BAER: Absolutely. For sure.

BURNETT: All right. Both of you going to be staying with me this hour. Next, the new details about the gunman's frequent trips to the gay

nightclub behind me that he targeted. Was he leading a double life?

Plus, Donald Trump going to be speaking live at this hour fighting back against President Obama's blistering tirade against him and this survivor, sharing his harrowing tale with me. He knew the faces of every one of the 49 people who died. He will tell you his story tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:41] BURNETT: Breaking news, we are learning that the gunman in the Orlando shooting Omar Mateen may have been living a double live. Witnesses at the Pulse nightclub which is of course right here about half a block behind me are coming forward and we are getting new accounts that Mateen had been hanging out at the club. Some saying for years, that he was chatting with other men on more than one gay dating app.

Brian Todd is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The picture that's emerging appears to show a conflicted killer. Several gay men including club goers say Omar Mateen was a frequent visitor of gay nightclubs and used gay dating apps. Kevin West knew of Mateen through the gay dating app Jack'd.

KEVIN WEST, HAD CONTACT WITH ORLANDO SHOOTER: He first contacted me and saying like what clubs are popping. The last contact was like three months ago.

TODD: West recognized Mateen when he saw him on Saturday night.

WEST: I was right in front of Pulse and I was standing outside of the car. I said, hey. He turned, looked at me, say, hey but he was walking like a regular person but he had one of those droopy type hats that hang off the back of your head, in a way, and I always remembered him because the picture that he showed me online before was of him wearing one of those hat things.

TODD: Chris Callen who worked at Pulse as a performer told Anderson Cooper he'd seen Mateen dozens of times at that club over a three-year period.

CHRIS CALLEN, PERFORMER AT PULSE NIGHTCLUB: When we first saw him there, me and a security guard that used to work at Pulse, we said hello and everything and he was friendly. But yes, he had frequently been to that bar and it's been going on three years.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think he was there to meet people? I mean, was he there to meet guys? Do you know why he was there?

CALLEN: Yes, when I -- when we met him and I mean, we introduced ourselves and said hello, even my partner said he seemed like a very nice, comfortable, he loved where he was at. He was drinking with another guy.

TODD: It's a stark contrast to the angry homophobic young man described by former co-workers and family members.

YUSUFIY: In the beginning he was a normal --

TODD: Mateen's ex-wife told OUTFRONT she acknowledges he may have been gay but may have hidden it out of shame.

YUSUFIY: It surely might be because, you know, now everything that's coming out and I feel like the tragedy that happened, you know, particularly in that nightclub, you know, targeting that group of people, there has to be some sort of a reason psychologically.

TODD: In the immediate hours after the attack, Mateen's father said he believes his son's motivation for the killing was seeing two men kissed recently in Miami. It's not clear whether he was interested in men or whether he was pretending to be in order to surveil possible targets.

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: We're going to the killer's life as I said, especially his electronics.

TODD: Tonight investigators are piecing together all the evidence as they work to understand a killer's motives. Whether he was driven by loyalty to a terror group or his own inner demons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Now as far as the dating app that Omar Mateen used, Kevin West said he knew Mateen through an app called Jack'd but the people at Jack'd say, they can't substantiate that and they have not been contacted by law enforcement. There are indications that Mateen may have used an app called Grindr but the people at Grindr are now telling us they are cooperating with law enforcement -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Brian. Of course as you all may hear or notice, obviously, we have a major thunderstorm coming through here in Atlanta.

Art Roderick back with me, former U.S. Marshal. Paul Brinkmann, reporter with the Orlando Sentinel. He is been breaking a lot of these news. And Bob Baer, a former CIA operative.

Paul, let me start with you because you have been breaking so much of this story. You have a lot more information tonight about what gay apps he was using, what nightclubs he was frequenting, how often, what do you know?

PAUL BRINKMANN, SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER, ORLANDO SENTINEL: So friends, people that die there had and people that frequented the bar started streaming in over the last couple of days. Stories started coming out that they have seen him at the bar. At first a lot of people seemed to have dismissed that because it wasn't part of the official account. We heard more and more, a number of people to go on the record.

They told us, one guy said 12 times he seen him there at least 12 times. Another guy said it goes back years to when he was in high school and that he had a drag queen friend that he used to come to bars with. That drag queen friend has been quoted in other media now, too. But the apps were, that I heard were Jack'd and Adam for Adam.

[19:21:14] BURNETT: Both of which are gay dating apps. You know, we talked to someone today who said, was very explicit actually about his sexual preferences, sexual acts and was very clear that he was gay. And I talked to someone else though who said, I've worked at the club for four years, his face might have been familiar but certainly I think it's being over stated and I don't necessarily agree with all of this. I think some people are over, over stating it. It's tough to know I mean, is there any doubt from your reporting that he's gay at this point?

BRINKMANN: It seems to be coming from enough independent sources at this point that it's hard to believe that all of these people would be saying that. You know, we did ask the Orlando police. They told us they didn't discredit it. They said they had no information about it. So there are some people that I've talked to have said that when they tried to speak about this part of it to authorities that they weren't really interested in that part. That may not be true. I don't know.

BURNETT: We're also hearing, Bob though is that, in terms of his preparation for this, they are now telling us tonight that he cased out this nightclub, specifically Pulse nightclub but also a Disneyworld property, that it's unclear whether he was always going to target a gay club. In fact, it doesn't look like that. It looks like he was considering other options.

BAER: He wanted to have people in a confined space and you hit Disneyworld or any of these other places, people can run. You can have a lot few you are casualties and clearly he wanted to slaughter as many people as he could. And secondly, he knew the place. You always want to case a place before you hit it whatever if you're a spy or commando. And so he absolutely had to know the access and the rest. So, this makes a lot of sense. And as far as, you know, being on Grindr and the rest of it, so many times I've seen people fundamentals, jihadists do something shameful and the only way they can make up for it is commit a violent act and it sort of sponges their past, so this fits the profile.

BURNETT: I mean, because Art, it isn't necessary if you're thinking your choice to something is Disneyworld or a gay nightclub and you're ISIS, you probably wouldn't have made this choice.

RODERICK: Well, you know, the one thing about Disneyworld, Disneyland, all their properties around the country is they really beefed up security over the past couple of years. So, he might have gone in there and saw that it was a fairly hard target and decided --

BURNETT: Except for when he was not shopping mall, that has no security. RODERICK: Right. Yes, that's true. I mean, I think he did, picked a

place he was familiar with. He saw this in San Bernardino where they scoped out the place earlier to make sure there no was security at that Medical Center in the conference room. And I think we're sort of looking at the same thing here. And plus, he went in at 2:00 a.m. And that place was packed. It was loud. They hadn't announced last call yet so that place was rocking and rolling and as loud as it was, I mean, you heard all the witness statements say, I thought it was part of the show. You know, the gunfire was part of the show.

BURNETT: Yes. I mean, person after person of course has told us that. What about the timing that he picked? Because it was just after 2:00 in the morning. Of course the club closes at 2:30.

BRINKMANN: Right.

BURNETT: Still crowded but it was starting to clear out.

BRINKMANN: Yes, one of the interesting things about that is some groups were breaking up at that point. Some people were leaving. Others were staying. And there is actually counsel tip (ph) told me that there's a lot of survivor guilt among the people who left because they had just left those people and they died right after that. So it's actually real phenomenon that they are dealing with in the counseling.

BURNETT: People have also talked about multiple people that we've spoken, we think that there was someone else, there was another shooter. Obviously we hear that at these cases a lot. People can't tell where the gunfire is coming from, where someone is moving. Are you at this point think that it's reasonable that there could have been another accomplice or do you think that's done likely?

BAER: I don't think so. The police were there so fast and had it surrounded and there is no evidence of a second shooter. And if you're hitting people in a confined area and you have all this noise, you hit half your targets before people figure out what is going on and where do you run? Doors are locked. And you know, it all makes sense, one shooter. I see no evidence of a second one.

BURNETT: We understand. All right. Thanks very much to all three of you.

And OUTFRONT next, President Obama coming out swinging.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States to bar all Muslims from immigrating to America. Where does this stop?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Coming up, Donald Trump firing back live this hour OUTFRONT.

And a bartender and entertainer at the Orlando nightclub, he knew the faces, he tells me of every single person killed in that club Saturday night. His story of survival coming up OUTFRONT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:05] BURNETT: Breaking news right now. Donald Trump, these are live pictures. He is rallying supporters. He is in North Carolina this evening. And as I said, speaking live and just moments ago, he actually for the first time responded to President Obama's tirade against him today. Here is Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I watched President Obama today. And he was more angry at me than he was at the shooter, and many people said that.

(BOOS)

One of the folks on television said, boy, has Trump gotten under his skin? But he was more angry and a lot of people said the level of anger, that's the kind of anger he should have for the shooter and these killers that shouldn't be here.

Hillary Clinton just yesterday used the term "radical Islam", sort of use it, right? Did you see? And also, Trump pushed her. I shouldn't be forcing anything.

If you don't know what the term is and if you don't discuss what the problem is and if you can say the real name, we have a radical Islamic terrorism problem, folks. We can say we don't and pretend like Obama that we don't, where Obama spent a long time talking about it and nobody at the end of the speech understood anything other than, boy, does he hate Donald Trump?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So what did President Obama say?

Michelle Kosinski is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama this time confronting critics head on.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's the key they tell us. We can't beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists. What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction.

KOSINSKI: Flanked by his national security council, including the nonpartisan chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president excoriated those who say he has not done enough to fight ISIS.

OBAMA: There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as president where we haven't been able to pursue a strategy because we didn't use the label radical Islam. Not once has an advisor of mine said, man, if we really used that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around. Not once.

KOSINSKI: The usually collected Obama lashed out at Republican rhetoric and Donald Trump in particular.

OBAMA: And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, and we are doing the terrorist work for them.

KOSINSKI: And what appeared to be carefully choreographed one-two punch, at the time the president spoke, Hillary Clinton was using much the same language during a speech in Pittsburgh, calling out her Republican presidential rival by his first name.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's fixated by on words "radical Islam". So, if Donald suggests I won't call this threat what it is, he hasn't been listening. But I will not demonize and declare war on an entire religion. And --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: On those highly controversial remarks that Donald Trump made yesterday where he said that President Obama is either not smart or not tough or he has something else in mind, the White House hasn't really wanted to respond directly to that, saying only that it's important not to be distracted by things so small.

But today, Hillary Clinton did respond to those comments, saying even in the time of divided politics, this is way beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president of the United States -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Michelle Kosinski, thank you so much, live at the White House tonight.

And now, Trump supporter Jason Osborne joins me, along with David Brock who supports Hillary Clinton, and David Gergen who served as advisor to four presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

And so, David Gergen, let me start with you. The president as you just saw there in Michelle's reporting, anger in his eyes and in his voice, true anger.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolute disdain for Donald Trump and everything he represents, great fear on the president's part that Donald Trump could actually succeed. He'll do everything in his power to prevent that from happening.

I must say, on the substance, I think you have to distinguish between two things, and that is the ban on all Muslims that Trump has been calling for, versus using the term "radical Islam".

On the first, I think the president is doing very well on that issue.

[19:35:03] I think he's got the upper hand on that issue. A lot of Americans, the polls show, yes, a lot of Americans don't like the ban. They think it was a bad idea. Importantly, high-ranking Republicans who are very, very important to him right now are opposed to this ban. Paul Ryan made it repeatedly clear and said so again today, and Trump doesn't want to face a rebellion for the convention on members of Congress.

On the second point, the radical Islam if I may be permitted a quick story. Back in the early 1980s, President Reagan was trying to decide whether to call the Soviet Union an evil empire. I was among those that urged him not to do that on his staff, thought it was wrong, thought it would upset the Soviets.

I think in retrospect I was wrong. He used the term. I think it word well. Tony Dolan who was a speechwriter, was the one who persuaded. I think Tony had the better argument, and that is rhetorically confronting, telling, having plain spoken truth about what you're facing helps to clarify and helps to strengthen your hand.

BURNETT: Which is a very interesting point.

And you know, Jason, on that point on using the words "radical Islam", Donald Trump is completely in line with the leaders of his party. House Speaker Ryan, Mitch McConnell, all of them, completely in line on that. Not though, as David points out, on the ban on Muslims entering the United States, and certainly not on the words and weird insinuation that he made about Barack Obama's motivations in not using the word radical Islam yesterday.

Today, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell both were asked point blank about their support for Donald Trump right now. Here's how they answered the question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REPORTER: Do you stand by your support of Donald Trump, Speaker Ryan?

(INAUDIBLE)

REPORTER: Yesterday, Donald Trump suggested that the president may have been sympathetic in someway to the terrorists and killer in Orlando. Do you think that was an appropriate thing for him to say?

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: Yes, I'm not going to be commenting on the presidential candidate today.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BURNETT: Jason, does that concern you? This is a big and important moment and neither one of the leaders in Congress were willing to directly support Donald Trump today. JASON OSBORNE, TRUMP SUPPORTER: You know, it doesn't concern me at

all. I think part of the issue here is that, you know, Donald Trump when he's out the trail, he's hearing from Americans, millions of Americans so frustrate that we seem to be coddling folks from overseas instead of taking care of Americans.

So, when we have elected officials and I respect Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell deeply, but I don't think that they are actually in America that Donald Trump has been going around for the last several months and actually talking to the voters and hearing their frustration.

So, it was important for us and for Donald Trump to hear the words "radical Islam" because that's when a majority of Americans out there understand.

And I do want to make sure that we're very clear here when we talk about the ban on Muslims, what Donald Trump has been saying consistently is that it's a temporary ban on the visa program. We have limits on the visas coming from different countries all over the world, and he's saying let's take a look at the program right now.

BURNETT: Of course --

OSBORNE: And fix it.

BURNETT: OK. Two points, though. The people that committed this attack as well as the man in the San Bernardino shootings, both were born in the United States. The Muslim ban would have nothing to do with them, but the point, Jason, was whether the leaders of the Republican Party, why they are refusing today to come out and directly back Donald Trump and you heard the reporter say that implied that Barack Obama was somehow sympathetic to the terrorists?

David Brock, when you hear that, do you think they will back off their support of Donald Trump?

DAVID BROCK, FOUNDER, CORRECT THE RECORD, A PRO-CLINTON SUPER PAC: I don't think they are going to back off their support of Donald Trump. I think they have grave reservations about the way that Donald Trump is conducting himself. I mean, in the wake of a tragedy like this, you expect some restraint and dignity in a president and I don't think we've seen that from Donald Trump.

So, I think they are very nervous about it. I think at the end of the day, they coalesce behind him, though for their own --

BURNETT: One thing, Jason, interesting in the speech today he talked about something Republican leaders have been talking about some issues and terrorism but haven't been talking about the issue as much, of the fact that gays are targeted in this horrific attack here in Orlando. Here is what Donald Trump just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Since 9/11, the United States has admitted more than a half a million immigrants from countries where being gay is punishable by death. Hillary Clinton -- crooked Hillary, as we all know her by, crooked Hillary, which is what she is -- wants to increase these immigration numbers very, very substantially.

She's no friend of women and she's no friend of LGBT Americans.

[19:40:05] No friend, believe me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Jason?

OSBORNE: Yes, you know, I think it is -- Donald Trump makes a very valid point when he's running against somebody whose foundation that her husband runs and she's on the board of accepts money from countries that treat those that are homosexual and those women much worse than any other parts of the world, I think that's a legitimate question to ask. Instead of, you know, what we're hearing is we're hearing Hillary Clinton and Democrats come out and want to target law- abiding citizens by restricting their Second Amendment rights.

BURNETT: OK. Thank you all very much.

And next, my conversation with one of the Orlando club's bartenders who worked there for years. He talks about knowing every single person. He looked at that list of 49 names and he knew every single one of them. His story is next.

And at least two witnesses from the club tell CNN that they think the shooter was not alone. Our report, coming up.

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[19:45:04] BURNETT: Breaking news, "get down mother f-ers", that is what the shooter screamed after murdering person after person.

Michael Belvedere, a bartender at the club for over four years said the shooter let some people beg for their lives and then he killed them. Belvedere says he knew the faces of all 49 victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL BELVEDERE, BARTENDER AT PULSE WHO SURVIVED BY HIDING IN BACK ROOM: I didn't run right away because he did stop for like a second and I kind of like ducked on the other side of the bar, and, you know, some of us were still kind of doubting it and there was a girl there that popped up and said this isn't real. Someone is setting off fireworks. This isn't real or something.

And then we started hearing the pops again and it was just pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, like really loud and at that point it sounded like it was on top of me. So I just -- I ran. I ran in a different direction than everybody else. I don't know what made me go towards the dressing room. I ran towards the dressing room. It has a lock on the door. I put the code in and ran in.

BURNETT: Did the shooter ever come close? Do you think he was ever close to your hiding place?

BELVEDERE: I wasn't sure. There were times I heard things. I don't know if they were police officers being quiet, or it was him moving around.

I would hear every once in awhile like a glass break or some rustling or I would hear -- not so much that I heard but I was sitting right next to the door with the chair in my hand and I saw at one point the door open slightly like it didn't even open enough for someone to see through but the door handle moved. It opened a little bit and closed. I have no idea who it was.

BURNETT: So you actually thought he was a police officer?

BELVEDERE: At one point, yes, because I was just waiting to hear from any sign of a cop. That's all I was praying for is just to hear a cop, you know, because out that point, there is really no one else that you're looking forward to hearing.

At one point, I heard screams from women and then shortly after that I did, I heard a gentleman screaming get on the ground, "Get on the ground, mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED), put your hands down. Put your phone away. Turn the light off. Get down." He kept calling them mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over and over and over again.

BURNETT: When you saw pictures of him, you obviously have been -- you were working at this club a few days a week. You were working at another gay club in Orlando. Did his face look familiar to you at all?

BELVEDERE: It's not somebody that I could instantly, instantly recognize. It's not somebody that I would be like I see him all the time. But it didn't look like a total stranger. You know, there was a little bit of doubt in my mind if I had seen him because his face looked a little familiar, but not somebody that really jumps out at me and I work five nights a week in that environment.

BURNETT: So maybe he was there, familiar to you but not a regular.

BELVEDERE: Right. That's a possibility.

BURNETT: And you have friends who are right now injured.

BELVEDERE: Yes.

BURNETT: How are they?

BELVEDERE: The majority of them that I personally know are okay. There is one that, her name is Angelique and she's still in the hospital. She was shot in the lung and arm that I know of. A few did lose their lives that I knew. Just people, that whole list I recognized almost every single one of them just from being there. Those were people that came and supported the club all the time and they were just people there to have fun.

BURNETT: So, when you hear he might have been gay, that he was coming to this club that he may have killed people, all these people that you knew because they were gay, what do you think?

BELVEDERE: I mean, my first reaction when everything was happening was that it was a hate crime. To find out that he might have been gay, it's shocking, but at the same time, it's not because a lot of closeted people don't know how to deal with it, and there are a lot of times where I'll see somebody who you can tell is kind of closeted, he doesn't know how to act. He almost looks kind of angry because he doesn't know how to -- it's almost like he doesn't know how to deal with being there but he wants to be there.

So, I could -- I could see if somebody like took that aggression out, you know, because they didn't want to be -- they didn't want to be who they are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: That was Michael Belvedere.

OUTFRONT next, witnesses tell CNN they think Mateen may have had an accomplice. So, is that possible? Our report, next.

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[19:52:59] BURNETT: Breaking news: one of the survivors of the Orlando massacre warning tonight that the gunman may have had help as he carried out his carnage. She says, quote, "There's no way", that's a quote, "There's no way that Omar Mateen acted alone," and other survivors that we have spoken to are now backing up her story.

Nick Valencia has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEYDIANA PUYANERA, SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I'm going to die here. I'm not going to see my kids. That's all I was thinking about was my kids.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sitting at home just outside of Orlando, Leydiana Puyanera's cuts, bruises and gunshot wounds are still fresh. So are her memories of what happened.

She doesn't believe the gunman acted alone. She says she believes she saw an accomplice.

PUYANERA: He was right next to the guy. I don't know if that was -- you know what I'm saying? But there's other people that are saying they were getting the door from the outside so they wouldn't get out.

VALENCIA (on camera): So you think this guy didn't act alone? There's just no way?

PUYANERA: There's no way. He killed so many people.

VALENCIA: I want you to be as clear as you can about what you saw and who you saw.

PUYANERA: I saw a white man, a white male. His face didn't look like he was scared. So definitely knew it was more than one shooter.

VALENCIA (voice-over): She said she told police about what she saw. The Orlando police department has vehemently insisted there was only one shooter and he's dead. But there are other survivors who also say they saw something similar -- Omar Mateen speaking on the phone.

PATIENCE CARTER, SHOOTING SURVIVOR: It sounded as if he was communicating with other people who are involved in it. He made the statement that if police come in, we're going to attack because it's OK, we've got the snipers outside. Some police officer said maybe he's deranged or talking to himself.

[19:55:02] But I honestly feel like I don't think he was able to pull that off all by himself.

VALENCIA: For her part, Puyanera also said she heard this shout from the gunman.

PUYANERA: Yelling Allah Akbak -- I don't know how to say it but heard him yelling something.

VALENCIA: She says she hid in the bathroom to survive.

PUYANERA: Everybody was panicking, and I was trying to tell them to calm down, be quiet, if he comes over here, we're going to die. I thought I was going to die in there.

VALENCIA: Two of the friends she was with that night were killed, Amanda Alvear and Mercedes Marisol Flores. Another friend, Brian Lopez, is in critical condition in the hospital.

PUYANERA: I saw people in front me get hit and down. It's like, how are they going to miss me?

VALENCIA (on camera): Somebody watching out for you.

PUYANERA: That's crazy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: We have reached out to federal law enforcement sources, as well as the local police. They continue to reiterate that this person acted alone. We know from past events that eyewitness testimony is often colored by the chaos of the moment but for Puyanera and others like here, they say they know what they saw. They do not believe that this person acted alone -- Erin.

BURNETT: Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

We'll be right back live from Orlando.

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BURNETT: Thank you so much for watching live from Orlando.

Our coverage continues here on CNN with "ANDERSON COOPER 360."