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Awaiting Autopsy Results In Disney Gator Attack; Wreckage Of EgyptAir Flight 804 Found; Defense To Begin In Freddie Gray Trial. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 16, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:31:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Now, to the other awful story out or Orlando. Officials are waiting on autopsy results this morning for that 2-year-old boy who was snatched by an alligator in that lagoon at a Disney World resort. One big question this morning, where there enough signs up about alligators in the water.

CNN's Victor Blackwell is live at Disney World with the latest. What have you learned, Victor?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we know that for a second morning now all beaches across Walt Disney World resorts are closed, they say, out of an abundance of caution, of course, after that 2-year-old boy was snatched into the Seven Seas Lagoon, and this morning we are seeing that boy for the first time.

Lane Graves, here with his family from Nebraska -- the family on vacation. The Orange County sheriff saying that it's likely the boy drowned but, of course, the family will have to wait for the results of the autopsy to confirm the cause of death.

And as they wait, we've now learned that the CEO of the Disney Company, Bob Iger, has spoken with with members of the Graves family by phone. We know that the resort has shared their sympathies and condolences with the family.

And as they do that -- you just said it a moment ago -- they are now reassessing their safety precautions across the Walt Disney World resort to determine if their measures -- for example, the "no swimming" sign that was posted at the lagoon is sufficient.

We also know that Florida Fish and Wildlife -- they will work to determine whether or not one of the five alligators they trapped and euthanized is the one that killed that little boy. If not, they say they're committed to continue to work to find that gator -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Victor, thank you for that update.

Well, comedy taking a backseat on late night as Jimmy Fallon and all the other late night hosts weigh in on the Orlando terror attack. Up next, will they make an impact in this debate over gun control?

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": I, as a new father, am thinking what do I tell my kids? What do I tell them about this? What can we learn from this? [06:33:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:20] CAMEROTA: In the wake of the Orlando terror attack late night hosts turned away from comedy to address a subject that, they say, has become painfully all too familiar -- watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, HOST, NBC "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": Whether the shooter was a homophobe, mentally ill, a terrorist inspired by ISIS, or all three, what allowed him to kill so many people on Sunday was his gun.

SAMANTHA BEE, HOST, TBS "FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE": He beat his ex-wife. He'd been reported multiple times to his employer as homophobic and unhinged, and the FBI had twice questioned him for ties to terrorist. But, none of these things disqualified him from legally buying a gun that shoots 45 rounds a minute.

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN ON TBS": Nobody I know, or have ever met in my entire life, should have access to a weapon that can kill so many people so quickly.

JOHN OLIVER, HOST, HBO "LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER": Right now, this just hurts and the worst thing is this pain is so familiar. In Paris, last November, terrorists seem to target places symbolizing everything that is wonderful about France -- culture, music, restaurants. And in Orlando, early this morning, the gunman attacked a Latin night at a gay club in the theme park capital of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now to discuss this is CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter. And Bill Carter, CNN contributor and author of "The War for Late Night". Gentlemen, great to see you both.

How unusual is this, Bill. After a big national catastrophe, don't the late night hosts normally weigh in or is something different happening?

BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST, AUTHOR, "THE WAR FOR LATE NIGHT": They always do weigh in and usually it's in the form of kind of lamenting what happened, and you saw some of that. But what's different here was a sense of rage and sort of an outrage about this. That this has gone too far and it's not funny anymore. It's really -- a lot of the commentary was not meant to be jokes. It was meant to be, really, punches throwing big haymakers at this issue.

CAMEROTA: Brian, is this a tipping point from what you've studied television for a long time, is there some sort of groundswell of feeling and do these guys have influence --

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, HOST "RELIABLE SOURCES": Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- over the American public's opinion about this?

STELTER: They do, and that's what I keep wondering. Is this time different? That question was asked after Sandy Hook. We know the answer was no, in 2012 it was not different. I wonder if this time is a little different partly because we've seen more late night hosts get more serious.

CARTER: Yes.

STELTER: We've seen some hosts on "FOX NEWS" speak out. And last night, with this so-called filibuster, the passion, the hope, the optimism that I saw on Twitter from Democrats, from liberals that want to see action, it felt different. Of course, it's too soon to know if this really is different.

CARTER: It is because the band moves on. I mean, if you're in late night you have to comment on what's going on all the time. And there will be another story and people will comment on that. How focused will they be about this? I think one of the interesting things -- they deal with absurdity all the time and this reached the point where they felt this is absurd. What's going on with these weapons is actually absurd.

[06:40:00] STELTER: Isn't it easier just to dismiss it, though? Say it's a bunch of liberal comedians this time?

CARTER: Yes, and that will be the -- and let's face it. The audience for a lot of these, especially "THE DAILY SHOW" and "SAMANTHA BEE" and shows like that is already disposed to favor this issue -- to support this issue.

CAMEROTA: I mean, they may be liberal comedians but they're also parents.

CARTER: Right.

STELTER: They're also Americans.

CAMEROTA: They're Americans and that's what Jimmy Fallon was talking about last night. Just sort of tapping into the humanity of this. So let's listen to a moment of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FALLON: Maybe there's a lesson from all this, a lesson in tolerance. We need to support each other's differences and worry less about our own opinions. Get back to debate and away from believing or supporting the idea that if someone doesn't live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them, bomb them up. That is not OK. We need to get back to being brave enough to accept that we have different opinions, and that's OK because that's America is built on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was interesting. That was Monday night, I should say.

STELTER: He sounds like a politician, doesn't he?

CARTER: He does.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

STELTER: He sounds like a national leader even though he's a comedian.

CARTER: Yes, but that's still a traditional commentary. It's the traditional commentary, saying we need to be unified. What's interesting here, Conan O'Brien is also a traditional guy, saying this is beyond the pale. I can't take this anymore. I've never --

STELTER: He called for legislation to be changed.

CARTER: He did, and he said I've never forced my opinions on anybody, but this is absolutely absurd. It can't go on. That's a little bit different, I think. There's a little bit different tone.

STELTER: Maybe that's because of the "T" word, terrorism. This gun crime, this attack --

CARTER: Yes, yes.

STELTER: -- has been described as terrorism.

CARTER: Right.

STELTER: Sandy Hook was not described that way. Aurora was not described that way.

CARTER: Yes, so we take that -- she moved the needle.

STELTER: The word terrorism has been placed on the table of the needle.

CAMEROTA: Then every -- meaning that everybody can get on one side.

CARTER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Everybody is against terrorism.

STELTER: Yes, in some way because this story is about a sick confluence of stories. A hate crime, a gun crime, a mass shooting, a terror act. In some ways, people will be able to choose their own narrative, but in some ways it brings us all together because we all have a reason, whether you're liberal, conservative, or whatever you are, to be invested and concerned about this story.

CARTER: But there's still an argument. Apparently, the NRA makes the argument you can't keep terrorists from having guns. They don't want to give an inch on it, which is why it's hard to move the needle on this. It's very hard.

CAMEROTA: I mean, they don't want people who are erroneously on terror watch lists to have guns.

CARTER: Erroneously, yes.

CAMEROTA: But I think that the point about late night is that these guys have become cultural commentators. Maybe they always were, but we see them as comedians.

CARTER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: But really they're cultural commentators.

STELTER: Yes, I think as "TIME" magazine said, we're seeing more sophistication from these late-night hosts. Maybe they don't feel as much pressure to appeal to everybody. Maybe in this niched world of television where everyone has their own niche, they're able to --

CARTER: Yes.

STELTER: -- kind of be themselves and express more onions.

CARTER: I also think "THE DAILY SHOW" changed things in the last 10 years. When Jon Stewart would take this issue -- he would take an issue and run with it and really -- he'd show outrage, but then I think - -

STELTER: So they're all trying to sort of be Jon Stewart, a little bit?

CARTER: I think they -- we'll, they're all saying it's safe to do that and still be a successful comedian.

CAMEROTA: Good point. He gave them permission to do that. Bill, Brian, thank you. Great to get your perspective on all of this.

All right, next, more on that heartbreaking tragedy as Disney World. A toddler killed by an alligator at one the resorts there. How rare is an alligator attack like this? We will talk about it with our animal expert, Jeff Corwin, next.

[06:43:15]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:50] Egyptian investigators say wreckage of EgyptAir Flight 804 has been found in the Mediterranean. They identified debris in several locations and a search vessel transmitted the first images of the aircraft. Crews will now try to retrieve those black box recorders, hoping to figure out what caused the plane to crash last month on a flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board.

The defense in the latest Freddie Gray trial set to begin its case. The prosecution rested Wednesday in the murder trial of Baltimore police officer, Caesar Goodson, but suffered a major blow when an expert witness could not say whether Goodson intentionally gave Gray a "rough ride" in a police van that led to his fatal spinal injury. Goodson is the third of six Baltimore cops to be tried in Gray's death.

Storms are in store for parts of the east coast today. Let's get to meteorologist, Chad Myers, with a look at the forecast. Hi, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Alisyn. Yes, from Philadelphia to about Pittsburgh, all the way down to Charleston, D.C., and Richmond could see wind damage with these storms as they roll across the Appalachians and eventually even into the Mid-Atlantic. There they are on the radar. This is the future radar. This is what it's going to look like tonight at 8:30. Storms arriving late tonight. If you're trying to get to bed early you probably will hear rumbles of thunder.

Across the Midwest, here's our next story. Heat index across Oklahoma, Texas will be almost 110 degrees today. And look -- if you just want to complain about your weather, look what Phoenix has in store for the rest of the weekend. One-hundred and nineteen for highs over the weekend. Now, that also includes not only Phoenix but Las Vegas, and even down to Twentynine Palms in Palm Springs, California. It will be well over 110. Kids and pets out of cars, please. Dangerous heat out there in the Southwest.

CAMEROTA: A good reminder, Chad, thank you for that. One-hundred and nineteen -- oh my gosh. It's also been very hot in Orlando, obviously, where Chris has been all week covering all of the tragic news down there. Chris, good morning, officially, to you. Tell us what the latest is.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Hello, my friend, and you've been right by my side all the way through. And we did have sad closure to what happened at Walt Disney World with that alligator and that 2-year-old boy. Put up Lane's picture. His family given a small measure of solace that this face is back in their lives. They have their son's body. Authorities say the alligator did was is obvious, took him and drowned him.

What do you learn from this? What does it mean to parents out there? Jeff Corwin has some answers you're going to want to hear, next.

[06:49:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:53:30] CUOMO: Lane Graves has been found. That is the 2-year- old boy who was playing in a lagoon with his parents on vacation at Walt Disney World when an alligator came and took him. His body was recovered intact. Now, that's a small measure of solace for his family now, that is just heartbroken and had been waiting to get him back. And officials say the obvious truth seems most likely, which is that this alligator killed him by drowning him.

Let's bring in Jeff Corwin, host of ABC's "OCEAN MYSTERIES". You know, there's a lot of talk, Jeff, about should the kid have been there, what's the signage. Some legitimate questions, some that seem needlessly critical in a time like this. When I look at the situation my first instinct is "there, but for the

grace of God", though my wife and me on vacation with kids and how we usually are. You, too, have a personal attachment to this story and perspective -- tell us.

JEFF CORWIN, HOST, ABC's "OCEAN MYSTERIES": Well, I do. I was doing all the pieces with you guys yesterday, Chris, and my wife called me up and she said oh my God, we were at that exact hotel. Our kids were playing in the exact spot. We were at the Grand Floridian just this time two years ago.

And it all just kind of rang home, by the grace of God, goes I. And it reminds us, really, how precious and fleeting life can be. And for me it was just really a sobering reminder of just the fragility of all this stuff. It is just such a tragedy and I cannot imagine what this family is going through.

[06:55:00] Now, when my wife did say that, Chris, I reminded her that in the 40-year history of this park, with hundreds of millions of visitors, this has never happened before.

CUOMO: Right, I checked that yesterday when you said it and others were saying it, and we don't have any record to contradict that. I mean, but there are legit questions of is this sign that says "no swimming" enough? Should it say alligators, beware, you know. And those questions are going to have to be answered. Disney is not known for ignoring safety.

CORWIN: Right.

CUOMO: They're known as a management company when it comes to risks. But, what do you say in a situation like this, Jeff, about things that people can learn from this about what to remember, what to think about, how to be in that safety state of mind going forward?

CORWIN: Well, I think whenever you have a tragedy like this in any situation, especially when it involves the public and safety, there have to be lessons learned. And I think while we need to find a measure of caution, Chris, we can't stop living our lives. Every day people are out in the wilderness in Florida and for the last seven years only about two dozen people -- now compare that to shark attacks, plane accidents, lightning bolt strikes --

CUOMO: Yes.

CORWIN: -- only about two dozen people have ever been dispatched by alligators. Now, with that said, of course there are things to think about. Alligators are one of our country's most robust, successful conservation stories. Chris, just 40-50 years ago this was a species on the brink of extinction, but today that is not the case. There are millions of alligators.

And if there is a freshwater body in Florida, chances are there's an alligator in it. And if you have children, if you have pets, and you live in alligator country, this always has to be on the back of your mind. And this certainly will be in the back of my mind the next time I'm near a fresh body of water in Florida with my kids.

CUOMO: You know, and look, you'll hear people down here saying well, I would have done this, I would have done that because I'm from here. Those people were from Nebraska. They're on vacation.

Another thing, the father was able to -- I don't know how he wasn't just frozen in shock, but he was able to get into the water and get his hands on an alligator. Even if the alligator was the smaller size that they suggest, just explain to people what this man was up against. How strong they are, even at a small size. What your chances of being able to control the animal, let alone get something back from its grip.

CORWIN: Chris, I think this father was energized by this heroic innate instinct to save his child. I think we all have that genetic makeup in us when we are in this moment of jeopardy. The truth was he was up against one of the most formidable reptilian predators ever to swim and walk across our planet.

Chris, these animals have lived on our planet, practically unchanged, for over 60 million years and the water is its world. It is a master when it comes to the aquatic realm. And we are no match. Just we regard to the power of its jaws, Chris, these animals have thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch. That's even for a small animal, so you couldn't even pry it open if you wanted to.

And when they're in the water and they're pursuing prey -- I'm sure you've seen this in Florida when you're out there fishing. They're practically invisible. You can easily see how you could be hanging out at the shoreline and one of these creatures can creep up. This is their strategy for taking their prey. They're ambush predators. They're completely concealed, camouflaged with the murk of the water around them. Only their eyes are revealed. They strike with a lightning bolt forward as they embrace their prey with that vice-like grip.

And that's the way these animals survive and that's the secret to their success. And, unfortunately, it would have taken more than just this one father and lot of luck to turn the situation around. I have worked with alligators many times in the wild. I've worked with small, medium-sized alligators and they are a very worthy and powerful adversary.

CUOMO: You know, I guess at the end of the day you just have to look at the situation and say he tried, and that's all you can do in a situation like that. And our hearts go out to the family. It's unimaginable for anyone who's a parent, or just anybody with a heart that's pumping, to look at a situation like this and just calculate the loss they'll have to deal with every day going forward. Every time you look at the picture of that little boy, Lane.

Jeff, thank you very much for the perspective on this. I wish we had something else to talk about that brought you onto the show, but I'll see you again. Be well.

CORWIN: OK, thanks, Chris.