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Republican Slam Trump's Muslim Ban; Two-Year-Old Attacked by Alligator Near Walt Disneyworld; Investigation Continues into Background of Orlando Nightclub Shooter. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 15, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is not a strategy.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What Donald Trump is saying is shameful.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama, he was more angry at me than he was at the shooter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. We are live in Orlando, Florida. And we begin with more breaking news. The frantic search for a two-year-old who was snatched and dragged into a lagoon by an alligator at a Walt Disneyworld resort.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It's Unimaginable. They're there, this family from Nebraska on vacation. The father sees it happen, rushes into the water, and the alligator gets away with his son in its jaws. This tragedy just adding to what is already just smothering grief in Orlando because of what we all know happened now, the worst taking of life by gun ever in America. But this story about this kid has our attention on it. So let's get to Boris Sanchez right now at Walt Disneyworld with the details of the story and latest on the search. Any word from fish and wildlife yet?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sadly, Chris, no word. No knowledge of the whereabouts of this young toddler. I can tell you, though, we got word from officials this morning that this is still a search and rescue operation, an very important distinction from a search recovery operation. So they're still definitely holding out hope that they will be able to find this young boy.

I should tell you, though, that they did struggle to give us any kind of example as to when a child this young was missing for this long after being attacked by an alligator and still found to have survived the attack. It is unimaginable what this family dealing with right now.

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

NICK WILEY, FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION: We've already taken four alligators out of the lake to be analyzed. And they have to be euthanized.

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 9:00 p.m., according to law enforcement officials. Social media lighting up with horrified Disney goers, watching the frantic search unfold, quote, "Police pulling up yellow tape out of the Grand Floridian directly across from magic kingdom in Orlando and praying for this family." Ground and air crews continue search at Disney's Grand Floridian hotel. 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, COMMUNICATIONS WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT: Everyone here at the Walt Disneyworld 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.

SHERIFF JERRY DEMINGS, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: We're not leaving until we recover the child.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: You heard Florida Fish and Wildlife mention in that piece that they had removed four alligators from this one lagoon and those alligators are now being examined to see if any of them were the one that snatched the boy. There is no indication of that yet.

But to give you a clearer picture of how this massive search area is, this is a lagoon that is bordered all over by hotels, by the Magic Kingdom itself, and it's also connected to a series of canals that attach it to other large bodies of fresh water. So this is a massive, massive search and rescue operation that is still ongoing right now, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Boris, please get back to us when you hear any development whatsoever. Thank you for all that reporting.

We want to bring in now Jeff Corwin. He's an analyst and host for ABC's "Ocean Mysteries." Jeff, thanks so for standing by during this terrible unfolding tragedy of this family. It is so wrenching to think about them watching their two-year-old who was just playing at the water's edge, and an alligator coming up and grabbing him in the jaws and the father trying to wrestle it out of the jaws. Can you tell us, once an alligator has something how hard it would be for an adult male human to get it loose?

JEFF CORWIN, HOST, ABC'S OCEAN MYSTERIES: You're absolutely right, Alisyn. This is so gut wrenching and heartbreaking. Here this family is on the ultimate vacation in a place which is the ultimate when it comes to safety and this tragedy unfolds.

It is incredibly hard to open an adult alligator's mouth. Even if you're a human being, an adult male like myself, it would be impossible for me to physically pry open the jaw of an adult alligator.

[08:05:04] CAMEROTA: Jeff, how surprising is it that an alligator would be in this lagoon, a manmade lagoon on this hotel property? I mean, how would an alligator get in there?

CORWIN: That's a great question. But here's the reality check. Alligators just a few decades ago were critically endangered, but because of good conservation they've rebounded and have recovered incredibly well. There is well over 1.5 million alligators living in Florida.

Keep in mind that although this a manmade lagoon, it is surrounded by thousands of acres of estuaries, of swamps, of rivers, of wild habitat. So it would be impossible no matter how well you attended and micromanaged this lagoon, to keep alligators from naturally sort of migrating and flowing into this water habitat.

What typically happens is that the wildlife experts will watch this area, and when they see an alligator that's getting a little bit too big, they'll often remove that animal. But it would be almost impossible to prevent wildlife, such as alligators, from entering this lagoon.

CAMEROTA: That's good to know. We're watching aerial footage right now of the search for this little two-year-old boy. There was earlier a press conference, Jeff, and the Fish and Wildlife official said it is very unusual for an alligator to attack a human being. Is that simply because normally they're not in proximity to human beings where they can get their claws on one? Or is it because usually humans are bigger than the alligator?

CORWIN: I think it is all of those things. Keep in mind that alligators do not naturally prey on human beings. They're eating fish, turtles, amphibians, birds, small mammals, OK. But a human child is very small in size.

Now, normally, when we have these terrible tragic scenarios unfold, what is usually the case is an alligator that has become very accustomed and comfortable around human beings, oftentimes because people have been feeding this animal and it loses its fear. Every month thousands of people migrate and move to Florida, and as we take over alligator habitat, these animals then need to migrate and find a new home. So while this is a very rare situation, it does occasionally happen.

Incredibly tragic, but incredibly remote. And you need to keep in mind that when you're in Florida, there are alligators everywhere. So that tells you how rare such a tragedy like this is.

CAMEROTA: And there were signs that say "no swimming" at this lagoon. But it did not say that it was because there might be alligators in there.

CORWIN: Well, first of all, the family wasn't swimming. And Walt Disneyworld and Walt Disneyland, these places he been in operation for many, many decades. I've never heard of an alligator attack or fatality in one of these parks ever. So that tells you how rare this event is.

Walt Disneyworld is micromanaged. So it is really impossible for them not to basically have their fingers in the cookie jar when it comes to security. But this is a wild animal, this is a vast place. I think the family was following the rules, they did absolutely not wrong. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The father did everything he needed to do, but in the end he wasn't successful. And that's the great tragedy of this.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. It is a great tragedy, Jeff. The sheriff was confident during the press conference. They said they will find the boy. He didn't obviously say that they would find him alive. Do you share that confidence that they will find the boy somehow?

CORWIN: I do not have a confidence. I have a hope against hope, to be honest with you. A two-year-old child, what would be their swimming abilities? You have the issues of the elements. You have water temperature. You have other predatory animals. You have other alligators. I think they are not far from recovery acknowledgment of this terrible situation.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And to be clear, that is what the sheriff, I think meant. Reading between the lines, I think he meant they would recover the child, but even that seems it might be a long shot. Jeff Corwin, thank you so much for all of your expertise.

Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, the terrorist who murdered 49 people at the gay nightclub behind us may have also been targets Disneyworld. That is what we're talking about with this kid and gator. Authorities want to know what his wife knows about that and maybe other preparations that were done before this ugly, ugly tragedy here.

[08:10:05] Let's bring in CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto, and CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Mark O'Mara. Great to see you, Mark, Jim. Let's deal with, first, the investigative side. The wife and dynamic, what are investigators trying to get out of here?

JAMES SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: She's under active investigation for basically not telling authorities what she knew. She has told them now that she knew he was considering carrying out a jihadist attack and she tried to stop him. She is telling them she went to some of these sites where was perceived to be he was scoping out. Certainly he was scoping out Pulse because he carried out the attack there.

But he also went to Disneyworld and she went with him. She said she didn't know that he was scoping them out. But the question is, are those answers satisfying to them? If you knew he thinking about carrying out a jihadist attack and start going to these places, why didn't she come to the authorities? That's the key question.

CUOMO: The strategic legal game here, the FBI want to pressure her, pressure her, talk to us, talk to us. We'll charge you, we might charge you with misprision of a felony, which is something I haven't heard since I was in law school. Almost every state has taken it off the books. But the flip side of that obvious pressure tactic is, I want a lawyer. I don't want to talk to you anymore, and then everything stops. How do you play the balance?

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is stage three right now. The first stage they've already been through, which is come talk to us. We need to find out what's going on, help out. And she did that. She cooperated according to them.

The second stage is when they go back to her and then say, wait a minute, we now see this on social media, we now know this about a credit card at Disney. Whatever it might be that they had in their pocket that they were waiting to use, they got more information that way. At some point if they're going to talk to her, though, they can't keep going there. Stage three is probably going to be where we are now, which is we're looking at you. We're considering you for charges. She will get a lawyer. Stage four is sitting with that lawyer and saying, look, here is what you need to have your client do. This is what we believe is going on. Here is how to handle it. Stage five would be the indictment.

CUOMO: How high a bar, though, does -- do the investigators have to charge her with anything meaningful? Misprision of a felony is not real jail time. It is hardly ever even used. Conspiracy I guess would be there. But even on the federal level, which is easier than state levels, it is still a case to make. You'd have to put it together with preparations or something.

O'MARA: It is very difficult, but it's all going to be based upon what they find along the way. If they can show more connection between her and him, whether it is conversations on text messages, anything like that like that, the more that tertiary information they have absolutely, the higher the bar that they can make. It's difficult, but what they want to do is keep as much pressure on to get as much information. This is information not for this case as much as for the next one.

CUOMO: That's an interesting point, Jim, because people will hear this conversation and be like, what do you -- why do I care about any of this? This is a terrible guy, a terrorist, a murderer, and probably a hate criminal. Why do they care? Why do I have to hear about this? What does it mean to investigators?

SCIUTTO: Couple of things. One, is there a broader network supporting him, so you want to prevents something else from happening again. At this point the community is safe so they're not so much investigating her or others who might carry out another attack, but still you want to know how far the network went. That is key.

But also beyond that this attack, you want other Muslim communities, other family members, if there are other people out there thinking this kind of thing to feel that come forward so that they can prevent this attack. You want to encourage people to do that, right, and frankly, made it clear there are penalties if you don't.

CUOMO: Early on, there was a push on the FBI. You dropped the ball. You had this guy twice and nothing happened. Jim and I have been reporting it out, and that seems to be a false conclusion. They did what they could. They closed the case. There wasn't any basis for moving forward.

But here is the interesting legal question they have now, which I think is getting confused by a lot of politicians. They're saying if you are on a no-fly list, you should be on a no buy list, and they're working on some legislation to come out under the guise of action. This guy wouldn't fit in that category. They closed the case. He wouldn't have been on a no-fly list. But they say he represents thousands of people that they have in their database where we looked at you, there's stuff about you we don't like, we couldn't make a case. But should they have the authority when that person tries to get a weapon, to bring them back in.

O'MARA: It is up to us, isn't it, because all we have to do is be more willing to compromise our Second Amendment rights and say if you are under investigation, if we think you're bad, if we've had an investigation and closed it, any number of reasons we can stop you from getting a gun. But we know in this country that is simply not going to happen.

CUOMO: People who propose to keep the Second Amendment as strong as possible win that political debate nine and a half times out of ten. However we are now dealing with exactly what happens because of those protections, is that a fair assessment?

SCIUTTO: No question. This is exactly the kind of case that proponents of this legislation, the no buy list in effect, have been talking about. Someone who is on this -- someone can't get on a plane conceivably shouldn't be able to buy the gun. It is not as cut as dry and that, right, because what then qualifies you for that list.

CUOMO: Slippery slope.

SCIUTTO: Just one investigation? Does that investigation still have to be underway? Is it being interviewed by the FBI?

[08:15:02] CUOMO: Slippery slope. We have some basis for this analysis. There is a terror watch list, OK? That's a really high bar. Ninety-one percent of the time that people on the terror watch list apply for guns, they get them.

So, do you see legally the concern of the slippery slope?

O'MARA: Well, yes, I really do. I'm concerned about it. But the reality is, again, it is a compromise between an ongoing national security, as subtle as we can address it, versus individual rights. We're entering a new age, the age where we may have to compromise some of our individual rights.

SCIUTTO: And that's something we do for freedom of expression. But there is certain things we can't say in terms of hate crime, or just speaking bad things about people, whether it is supporting terrorism or saying things about blacks, gays, et cetera, so we have as a society accepted restrictions in cases like that.

CUOMO: The political dynamic is with the First Amendment. We're on the side of inclusion, allowing people to do things. What will we do with the Second Amendment. Right now, it seems we're going that way as well. We'll see what Orlando means.

Mark, thank you very much. Jim, as always.

All right. So, the politics of this playing out in real time, Donald Trump's terror talk, rattling, and also dividing Republicans.

Up next, we're going to give you the debate, whether the Republican Party is behind Donald Trump or this may be something that makes GOP- ers step away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama and Hillary Clinton slamming Donald Trump for his renewed call on a ban of Muslims, after the terror attack here in Orlando. And some top Republicans are critical as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I do not think a Muslim ban is within our country's interest. I do think it is not reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: I hope he realizes that in order to actually win this war, you're going to need people that he has already alienated.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've said this a thousand times about Donald Trump. He is making it harder to win the war.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now to talk about this is Jeff DeWit. He's the Arizona state treasurer and campaign surrogate for Donald Trump. Also, Tim Miller, former Jeb Bush spokesman, who does not support Donald Trump. Gentlemen, thanks for being here.

Jeff, let's start with you. What about what you just heard from some of those top Republicans that say Donald Trump as president would certainly need Muslims. He needs Muslims to be able to sort of point out radicals or terrorists in their midst. He should be courting Muslims, rather than alienating them.

JEFF DEWIT, ARIZONA STATE TREASURER: Well, we have a big problem. I think we all can understand that. The question is, what do we do to solve the problem.

Donald Trump is the only one offering substantive solutions. President Obama keeps going on TV and mis-identifying the problem. So, radical Islamic terrorism, according to the Investigation Project on Terrorism, associated with the University of Maryland, has grown from 3,000 deaths per year, caused by it, to over 28,000 deaths per year in the last five years.

It's growing. It is a bigger and bigger problem. President Obama keeps focusing his fight on Iraq when actually the head of the beast is in Syria. And when we look at -- when people get radicalized or recruited to join ISIS, it is coming from Syria.

So, we have to do something more to solve the problem. And our currents leadership is not doing that. The problem is getting worst. We have to do something.

CAMEROTA: OK, Tim.

TIM MILLER, FORMER JEB BUSH COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Alisyn, yes, see, this is the thing. It is Donald Trump that is mis-identifying the problem. After this horrific massacre in Orlando, that was committed by an American citizen, who was born of an immigrant in the same neighborhood that Donald Trump was born of an immigrant, his response and Jeff's response, his campaign's response is let's ban immigrants from coming into the country. Let's ban Muslims, let's ban people from countries that have Muslims, like Belgium, by the way and the United Kingdom from coming into our country.

The terrorist was not an immigrant. So banning immigration is completely mis-identifying the problem and goes against everything our country has stood for since its founding.

CAMEROTA: Jeff, there may also --

DEWIT: You're putting words in my mouth.

CAMEROTA: Hold on, Jeff.

DEWIT: That's not what we said, but thank you.

MILLER: Yes, it is. It is his plan.

CAMEROTA: Hold on. OK, Jeff, clarify it, then.

DEWIT: Well, he is saying that ban all immigration.

CAMEROTA: Jeff.

DEWIT: And things like that. We -- everybody is fine with legal immigration.

MILLER: You're not. You want to ban Muslims.

DEWIT: Tim is known as the number nine biggest Trump hater, according to "The Washington Post" out there, he is running an anti-Trump PAC.

MILLER: That's correct. Proudly.

DEWIT: And working for Hillary Clinton.

But to indict the question on the other side, to indict all gun owners on the actions of a single gun owner is not the way to go about it either. So, we have to look at the problem.

CAMEROTA: Jeff, let me get in there for a second.

(CROSSTALK)

DEWIT: -- which our current administration is not doing.

CAMEROTA: Guys, I'm sorry, the satellite delay, which makes it seem like we're stepping on each other.

Jeff, I want to show you this Bloomberg poll. It asked whether or not Trump's rhetoric on the Muslim ban bothers people. And 66 percent, if you combine the top two categories, bothers a lot, a little, yes, it adds up to 66 percent of Americans say, yes, it does bother them. He's not going to be able to win, Jeff, with just 34 percent of Americans for whom it does not bother at all.

DEWIT: But again, when they also poll issues and ask about either jobs, immigration, or national security, Mr. Trump handedly beats Hillary Clinton on those issues, because everybody knows while the problem has grown, it has not only grown under President Obama, but it grew while she was secretary of state. So he --

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: Alisyn -- Jeff, Jeff is not answering any of your questions. When he said that the Trump campaign supports the legal immigration, that's totally false. He proposed new bans on legal immigration the other day in response to the terrorist attack by a citizen.

And two, with regard to the polls you just brought up, the Bloomberg poll, over 55 percent of Americans say they will not vote for Donald Trump. This is a person that cannot win the general election, because he has repulsed minorities, he has repulsed women.

[08:25:02] And the Republican Party I think needs to consider having an open convention, where we get rid of him as the nominee, because he has no chance to beat Hillary Clinton because of the poll you just showed.

CAMEROTA: And yet, Tim, let me get in there for a second, because I want to --

DEWIT: And yet Mr. Trump has over 3 million more votes than any Republican candidate in history in the primary.

MILLER: More votes again.

DEWIT: Jeff, we do know those numbers.

But, Tim, I want to push back for a second. We've heard not just from Donald Trump, but from terror experts who say that it does bother them that President Obama seems word radical Islam, because they do think that's at what is the root of some of this toxicity and some of the murders that we've seen. Do you think that Donald Trump has a valid point that you need to call it by what it is?

MILLER: I 100 percent agree that it is important that we identify the enemy. When you look at what President Obama has done, the problem is not only that he doesn't say radical Islamic terrorism, but that defines his world view when looking at terrorism. He treats it leak a law enforcement exercise rather than a war against a death cult that wants to see the end of our way of life.

But here's the thing, Alisyn, the fight against the PC police that Donald Trump wants to fight about the term radical Islamic terrorism, that's a tiny element of this. The big part behind it is actually winning this fight, and having a real plan to do it. And Donald Trump does not know the difference between the Kurds who are allies and the Quds who are the Iranian army. Donald Trump doesn't have a serious plan after this attack, like I said, he gave a speech about immigration and PC wars.

So, if Donald Trump's fight is against the PC police, he is missing the point.

CAMEROTA: OK, Tim, Jeff, thank you. Sorry for the satellite delay, gentlemen. We appreciate the debate.

MILLER: Any time, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Next up, we hear -- thank you, guys. We hear from a very close circle of friends, reacting to the loss of two of the victims, and their thoughts about the political debate that's going on right now surrounding this attack. Stick around for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)