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New Day

Alligator Snatches Boy at Disney Resort; Killer Scouted Disney World & Gay Nightclub Before Attack; Obama, Clinton Blast Trump's 'Dangerous Rhetoric'. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 15, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN ANALYST: This is going to be ISIS's M.O. for a while. They have to just act as if they're not live.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: And also, it also raises the issue of cooperation between...

KAYYEM: Right.

CUOMO: ... corporate and government functions here.

KAYYEM: Right.

CUOMO: Juliette, thank you very much.

Paul, as always.

We are following a lot of news here out of Orlando. Horrible breaking story right now. A toddler attacked by an alligator at a Disney resort, his family forced to watch it unfold. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 2-year-old boy snatched and dragged away by an alligator at Disney's Grand Floridian resort.

SHERIFF JERRY DEMINGS, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA: The father tried to grab the child, was not successful.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With each hour that passes by, hopes grow dimmer and dimmer.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We have a radical Islamic terrorism problem, folks.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: In the end, it didn't matter what we called bin Laden. It mattered that we got bin Laden.

TRUMP: President Obama, he was more angry at me than he was at the shooter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you know your husband was going to do this?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Authorities are zeroing in on the killer's wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His entire profile is being studied.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had polled (ph) multiple locations before he chose that spot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We are live in Orlando, and we begin with breaking news out of Walt Disney World.

We have this search going on right now for a toddler. He, his parents, his sister, were from Nebraska. They're at the Disney resort. He's playing in a lagoon, and all of the sudden, an alligator comes up and takes him.

CAMEROTA: The father tried desperately to save his son, jumping in the water, trying to wrestle with the alligator, as horrified vacationers were watching all of this. I mean, you just can't imagine this scene unfolding in front of you.

And all of this set against Orlando and the backdrop of all the grief that they're already dealing with because of the Pulse nightclub attack.

So we want to get right now to Boris Sanchez, live with all of the breaking details of this alligator attack. Boris, what do you know?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, you said it best. It is unimaginable that a family would have to deal with something like this.

We just wrapped up a press briefing a few moments ago, sadly, with no information as to the whereabouts of this toddler, but officials did give us two important bits of information. They are calling this a search-and-rescue operation. It has not moved into the recovery phase yet. So they are still holding out hope that they will find this young boy.

Aside from that, they also tell us that they have removed four alligators from the lagoon where the young boy was snatched, and they are now examining those alligators to find any evidence that they may have been involved in the attack.

But again, it's just brutal for this family to have to deal with this. They're on vacation at what's supposed to be the Happiest Place on Earth, and now they're confronted face to face with horrible, unspeakable tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ (voice-over): A desperate search underway at a luxury Disney resort near Orlando, by air, and in the water, for a 2-year-old boy snatched and dragged away by an alligator at Disney's Grand Floridian resort. The toddler was wading near the shore of a man-made lake with his family nearby.

CHAD WEBER, OFFICER, FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE: We're putting every effort into locating the child and trapping this alligator.

SANCHEZ: The toddler's father jumping into the water to try to pull his son from the grips of the gator, to no avail. The tragic incident occurring shortly after 9 p.m., according to law enforcement officials.

Social media lighting up with horrified Disney goers, watching the frantic search unfold: "Police putting up yellow tape outside of the Grand Floridian directly across from the Magic Kingdom in Orlando." And "Praying for this family. Ground and air crews continue the search."

The young boy was on vacation with his family from Nebraska, and had been staying at the resort since Sunday. Disney is fully cooperating with the investigation.

JACQUEE WAHLER, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS, WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT: Everyone here at the Walt Disney World Resort is devastated by this tragic accident. Our thoughts are with the family. We are helping the family and doing everything we can to assist law enforcement.

SANCHEZ: With each passing hour, a harsh reality is setting in for rescuers desperately trying to find this young boy.

DEMINGS: We're not leaving until we recover the child.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: All right. Let's find out what's happening right now. We have Nick Wiley, executive director of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission joining us.

Nick, thank you. We saw you on TV before doing the presser. We know you're busy right now, monitoring this. Appreciate your time. What are you expecting to happen right now? What is the status?

NICK WILEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION: Well, right now we have boats on the water. We have dive teams coming in. We've got every piece of technology, equipment and support we can bring to bear, and we're just aggressively out there. As the sun comes up, and we can see better, we're going to just stay on top of this and do everything we can to find this boy and try to support this family.

[07:05:15] CUOMO: Is there any hope at this point that it is a rescue? We heard the sheriff say earlier this is still search and rescue, not recovery. Where's your head on that? WILEY: We're going to maintain hope. We're going to hang onto that

hope and -- and we're going to keep looking as hard as we can.

CUOMO: The fact that this is a manmade lagoon, obviously, what we want to figure out is how this happened, why this happened. Being manmade, does that help you at all in terms of what the bottom structure is of this body of water? Because we do know that alligators do that with prey, right? Is that they take whatever they attack and sometimes hide it under water. Is the search going to be easier because this was a man-made lagoon?

WILEY: I wouldn't say it's easier. The water is pretty clear. We do have some aquatic vegetation in there that can get in the way. It's got a pretty sandy bottom. So -- so, you know, I wouldn't say it's going to be easy, but I do believe we're going to -- we've got the right people out there, professionals doing this job, and we're going to do our best to find the -- find the child.

CUOMO: What's the reality? Obviously, there's a measure of shock that at Disney World, a man-made lagoon, where people are going to be around, had an alligator in it, but in your experience, what's the reality about where you find alligators in Florida?

WILEY: Well, we tell people that, you know, Florida is safe, and these kind of things are extremely rare. But you do have to be aware. Anytime you're in freshwater, in a freshwater lake, pond, marsh, river in Florida, you can have alligators. They can move around, and so it's not unusual to see alligators. What's unusual is to have one attack like this.

CUOMO: Especially a smaller one. Right? You were saying that that estimates from people who were there put it around four to six feet and attacking a human is usually something that you see from a bigger alligator.

Now, we also hear that it's not just about one alligator. That you have found multiple alligators already. Is that a surprise to you? How many, and I guess you figure there could be more?

WILEY: No, it's not a surprise that we found a handful of alligators in this area. They're -- again, they're common in Florida, and I wouldn't say there's an unusual number there.

But we just have to work through this. And anytime we can catch an alligator to further investigate and find out if it was involved, that's what we're going to try to do.

CUOMO: There was a "No Swimming" sign. We'd heard earlier, there were reports that there was a lifeguard there. We now understand the lifeguard was from a nearby pool, heard the commotion, came to help. So let's remove that element.

But there wasn't a sign that said, "Beware, Alligators." Is that something that you think needs to be posted at all these bodies of water, whether they're manmade or not? WILEY: Well, what I do know is Disney is very aggressive about taking

out nuisance alligators and working closely with us. And, you know, signage can only do so much. I think we're going to take a look at this, and I know Disney will. And if there's anything we can do better, we will.

But I know Disney is doing everything they can to provide a safe experience, and we're going to do keep doing everything we can to help them.

CUOMO: All right. Nick, I appreciate you being with us. Good luck with the search. We hope it ends soon. Thank you.

WILEY: Thank you, Chris.

CAMEROTA: OK. The gunman who killed 49 people at that gay nightclub behind us may have also been targeting Walt Disney World. Authorities say he staked out both locations. The terrorist's wife is now the subject of an FBI and Justice

Department investigation. Authorities want to know what she knew, and may be prepared to file charges.

CNN's Jim Sciutto joins us now, live with the latest.

What do you know, Jim?

SCIUTTO: We know that she's the target of an active investigation. No conclusions yet, but they are looking into her. She has told investigators she knew that he was thinking about carrying out a jihadist attack but that she tried to stop him.

She told investigators that she traveled with him to some of these possible targets, including the Pulse nightclub just in the days leading up to the event, as well as a Disney property here, but she did not know, she says, at the time that he was considering them as targets.

Are those answers satisfying to investigators? Clearly, not yet. They have not come to any conclusions, but she is now a target of their investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you know your husband was going to do this?

SCIUTTO (voice-over): This morning, authorities are zeroing in on the killer's wife, 30-year-old Noor Salman. A law enforcement official says she admits she knew about her husband's interest in carrying out a jihadist attack.

DEMINGS: She has been very cooperative with the authorities.

SCIUTTO: Salman claiming she tried to dissuade him from doing anything violent, according to the FBI. She denies knowing anything about the Pulse nightclub as a target for the massacre.

[07:10:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think that your daughter-in-law here helped your son commit this crime?

SADDIQUE MATEEN, FATHER OF OMAR MATEEN: I don't think so.

SCIUTTO: Authorities are now looking into whether she should face charges for knowing about his intentions but not telling police.

This as we're getting our first look inside the couple's apartment. Clothes and children's toys scattered on the floor. Investigators seizing electronic devices from the home as new evidence is emerging that suggests the gunman may have considered other targets.

DEMINGS: Suffice it to say that he had probed multiple locations before he chose that -- that spot.

SCIUTTO: CNN has learned he visited this Disney shopping complex, as well as the Pulse nightclub, all at the beginning of June. Investigators say his wife traveled with him, the dates coinciding with Gay Days, an annual event that attracts thousands of LGBT people to Disney parks. Disney security officials told the FBI they believe the shooter was scouting the Disney World park when he visited there with his wife in April, as well.

DEMINGS: We are trying to understand all of his travels in the recent past.

SCIUTTO: The June scouting missions occurring around the same time as when the killer purchased the weapons he used to carry out the attack. This as we are now hearing from first responders at the nightclub.

LT. DAVIS ODELL, ORLANDO FIRE DEPARTMENT: I won't forget the steady pow, pow, pow.

SCIUTTO: A lieutenant at the fire station just 300 feet away from the club describing the hundreds of club goers frantically trying to escape the barrage of bullets.

ODELL: There was groups of people in front of the fire station, hiding behind the wall over there, crying and screaming.

Kind of sick to think about it, but each time he's shooting, he's shooting somebody in there, and what's more, you know, going about his business as methodically as he was at a gun range.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: The FBI is also looking into its own process here. It had the shooter under investigation, took him off the investigation. Of course, this horrible thing happened.

But we also know this: today the FBI has some 1,000 investigations underway of possible suspected jihadis here in this country. We know that they consider about 50 to 100 of them high -- the highest priority cases. This is the challenge that they're faced with. They have to make judgment calls all the time as to who to keep under investigation, who not to. With imperfect information, it's a really, really difficult job. CAMEROTA: And they only have to get it wrong once...

SCIUTTO: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: ... for something like this to happen.

Jim, stand by if you would, because we do want to talk more about this.

Coming up, we're going to talk more about the killer's wife. What did she know, and will she face charges? We discuss all of the latest for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:16:33] CAMEROTA: This morning investigators continue their focus on the Orlando terrorist's wife. What did she know about the attack?

We're also learning that the killer scouted Disney World before the attack behind me.

So joining us now is CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. He's back. And Bob Baer, CNN intelligence and security analyst. Great to have both of you with us.

Bob, if the killer's wife knew that he was interested in a jihadist attack, what can they charge her with?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Complicity. Supporting terrorism. If she, in fact, drove him to the site and case it, bought weapons, bought ammunition.

CAMEROTA: What if he didn't say, "I'm casing it"? What if he said, "There's an interesting place in Orlando. Let's take a drive this weekend"? What about that?

BAER: She's lying. I mean, you just -- you know, within the family, it's generally known what's going through somebody's mind. He was close to this woman. He probably confided in her. I've never seen these attacks occur where a small group wasn't consulted.

SCIUTTO: And she has said to investigators that she knew that he was considering an attack, and she tried to dissuade him. So this idea of jihadi sympathies did not come out of nowhere.

CAMEROTA: So Jim, when you talk to investigators, is there a sense that charges are pending? That they will soon...

SCIUTTO: Well, we know that an investigation is underway. They haven't reached that conclusion yet. They have to essentially decide this question: Did she know enough to come forward to police and warn them that something was happening? That's a bit of a judgment call there, and it depends on the law. They have something; they're clearly investigating her. She's a target, but they haven't made that conclusion. CAMEROTA: The father was also, he claims, very close to his son. The

father has been speaking a lot to the media. He himself is sort of a media personality. He had a YouTube channel. Might the parents be charged with something?

BAER: I've usually seen wives, brothers, sisters, are brought into the plot. Sometimes parents know. He's said -- he's made statements supporting the Taliban. That doesn't mean it's terrorism. He may or may not have known.

What's really going to be important is when they get into the meta data. You know, if he's inside the club texting somebody, or right before, this could become a much wider investigation. Somebody sitting outside. Because you would want somebody watching, you know, to tell you when the police are coming. And they're going to get a lot of information off the telephone and computer.

CAMEROTA: In fact, in the first reports, there were reports that there was an accomplice somehow. Those were then, you know, shied away from, those first reports. But is there thinking now that there was some other help that night?

SCIUTTO: In terms of an accomplice who helped carry out the attack, no, not yet. I mean, you heard from some of the early eyewitness accounts, these stories that someone was blocking the door, for instance, and they thought there might be another perpetrator there. But often eyewitness accounts, they're wrong, right? It's a moment of the panic, that kind of thing.

But listen, after an attack like this, they do look for a broader support network. We know that one of those focuses is on the wife, but that doesn't mean they've eliminated other possibilities.

CAMEROTA: Bob, there's also new information today that he was casing Disney World, that he had visited Disney World. That seems to have been a harder target. Isn't it?

BAER: It's a much harder target, because the crowds aren't confined. When you start shooting, people start running. And to think -- if they can run...

CAMEROTA: I see. So a lot of people, but more places to go.

BAER: yes. You really can't hit anybody with a gun if they're running very fast. It's very, very difficult. And if they're scattering, the casualties would have been much less.

The question is how did he know that? How did he think through that?

You know, he did go to Saudi Arabia twice. We still do not have any firm grasp of what he was doing there. Did he meet somebody? Did he go to a sheikh to get a fatwa, for permission? So there's a lot of unanswered questions here which are very, very important.

[07:20:15] SCIUTTO: And clearly, there was something particular about the Pulse nightclub. So he went to Disney in April. He went to this other Disney resort in June.

But from witnesses in that club, and people who go there regularly, he went to Pulse nightclub multiple times over several years.

And then there's the personal aspect, because there are thoughts that he may have been gay. And there was a personal aspect of homophobia, self-loathing homophobia that played a factor. But there was a particular focus on Pulse, of the many places that he visited.

CAMEROTA: And the reason that investigators have gone down that route is because they have found that he was on gay dating apps?

SCIUTTO: This is another thing they're investigating, as well.

And that -- listen, there's another interpretation. Was he on those apps to meet people to further case out the place? That's a possibility. But the number of visits there combined with that, that creates the

possibility of another narrative.

BAER: This is fairly typical for a jihadi, a radical Muslim, to put his past behind him. He's ashamed. It's very transgressive in Islam. Homosexual relationships.

CAMEROTA: Meaning that, if he had some sort of homosexual tendencies, what would happen, in your experience?

BAER: He would completely turn a switch in his mind and say, "I've got to put my past behind me." And in this sense, if he was homosexual, he was breaking with his past, and turning to God. And this would be one way to overcome the shame within his framework.

CAMEROTA: There's also reports that weeks before this horrific attack, he gave blood. What do investigators think about this? That he would do this generous, altruistic act right before a massacre?

SCIUTTO: They just don't know. I mean, the timing is just incredible. May 29, less than two weeks before the attack, he gives blood, which is -- you know, which is, as you say, a magnanimous act, before you kill 49 people.

So they don't know yet. And -- but it, again, it's part of this broader, increasingly confusing picture of his motivations. Right? You have the pledging of allegiance to ISIS, but you also have this personal past.

Bob knows this issue very well. Could have been part of the narrative that led him to do what he did.

BAER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Do you have any theories on that?

BAER: People become -- they're psychopaths in a sense. They -- they carry on normal lives. They make calls; they joke with people. They do act completely normal right up to the act, and then once they get into the shooting, they're very cold-blooded. There's no empathy left in these people. And that's why he was able to shoot people on the ground.

I mean, most normal people, had to machine gun in place, would panic. He didn't. Very -- he had lost any empathy at that point.

SCIUTTO: Laughing, some witnesses said, as he was killing.

CAMEROTA: Bob, Jim, thank you for all of that background.

Well, there are politics, of course, connected to all this. President Obama and Hillary Clinton now seem to be joining forces to combat what Donald Trump has said about this attack. How is the battle uniting Democrats? Is it uniting Republicans, as well? We explore all that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:27:08] CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton and President Obama teaming up to lash out at Donald Trump. They call Trump's rhetoric, quote, "dangerous." The presumptive GOP nominee, as you might expect, hitting right back.

CNN's Joe Johns is live with more. Hi, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hitting hard, too, Alisyn.

The massacre in Orlando is now front and center in the race for the White House. And what's so remarkable about this is that President Obama himself has now stepped into the back and forth. His angry response to Donald Trump's attacks in concert with a speech by Hillary Clinton, and now we have Trump's rebuttal just last night. The latest signs that there's a bitter period ahead in U.S. politics between now and November.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): Donald Trump going after President Obama.

TRUMP: I watched President Obama today. And he was more angry at me than he was at the shooter.

JOHNS: Accusing the president of being angrier at him than the man who carried out the terror attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

TRUMP: The level of anger, that's the kind of anger he should have for the shooter and these killers that shouldn't be here.

JOHNS: Trump lashing out just hours after President Obama's fiery speech, defending his strategy against ISIS and his refusal to use the term "radical Islam."

OBAMA: 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? There's no magic to the phrase "radical Islam." It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy. JOHNS: The president's speech, his sharpest rebuke against the

presumptive presidential nominee, slamming his rhetoric as dangerous and un-American.

OBAMA: That's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our democratic ideals. It won't make us more safe. It will make us less safe.

JOHNS: Flanked by his National Security Council, including the nonpartisan chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the president lambasting Trump's renewed push to ban Muslims entering the U.S. and calling out Republican leadership, left squirming by Trump's views.

OBAMA: 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, then we are doing the terrorists' work for them.

JOHNS: Trump appearing unimpressed.

TRUMP: And nobody at the end of that speech understand anything other than, "Boy, does he hate Donald Trump."

JOHNS: Democrats mounting a calculated one-two punch.

CLINTON: What Donald Trump is saying is shameful.

JOHNS: With Hillary Clinton simultaneously unleashing her rebuke of Trump in Pittsburgh.

CLINTON: When 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.

JOHNS: Clinton also denouncing Trump's conspiracy theories about President Obama after the terror attack as shameful.

CLINTON: Even in a time of divided politics, this...