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Dyson Calls for Protests at GOP Convention; Source: Killer & Wife Texted During Orlando Attack; Trump, McCain Blast Obama's Terror Strategy; Disney World to Put Up Alligator Warning Signs; Disney World to Put Up Alligator Warning Signs. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 17, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

LORD: ... slavery. They have six platforms still standing in which they called for slavery in the United States. I never hear anything about that. I never hear anything about that. I would think that that would be pretty bad here. But...

[07:00:14] DYSON: I'm against slavery wherever it exists. What I'm against now in the present day is the refusal to acknowledge the humanity of so many other people and the inability, it seems, of the Trump campaign to do anything but amplify the worst sentiments and worst racial and, you know, anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican sentiments that we've seen in such a long time here and to find discourse in the rhetoric of a person who is the presumptive Republican nominee is quite troubling.

CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, you've both made your point. Thank you very much for that debate.

LORD: Thank you, Aly.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. We do have a lot of news, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the rampage, the killer exchanged text messages with his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's almost like time stopped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were bodies on the floor.

MIGUEL LEIVA, SURVIVOR OF PULSE SHOOTING: There was about 17 of us in there. Only, like, five or six of us made it out.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After the worst of humanity reared its evil head, the best of humanity came roaring back.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We do not take away a citizen's rights.

OBAMA: This debate needs to change.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: President Obama, to a large extent, he's blaming guns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump says that he has to talk tough to terrorists, but he does not have the courage to talk tough to the NRA.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Days after 2-year-old Lane Graves was killed in a gator attack, they are now re-assessing their safety precautions.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Were there enough signs up about alligators in the water?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Chris is off today. And look who we have: David Gregory. It's great to have you here.

GREGORY: Again, a pretty -- pretty down week and day to be here, but fun nonetheless.

CAMEROTA: Incredible news to report and more developments today. So let's get to those, because there are new details emerging about the communications between the Orlando terrorist and his wife during the gay nightclub attack. And disturbing details about his extensive history of behavioral issues dating all the way back to grade school.

GREGORY: Meantime, Alisyn, President Obama is ripping gun control opponents after meeting with the victims and families of Sunday's massacre. Several votes on gun measures are now set for next week. So will anything actually get done this time around?

We're going to begin our coverage with CNN's Polo Sandoval. He's live in Orlando with the very latest on the investigation. Polo, good morning.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, David.

Good morning. You know, hard to believe that seven days ago, the staff at Pulse nightclub, which is only about a block away from where I'm standing, was getting ready for what was supposed to be a very busy weekend.

But instead, today, federal agents again arriving at the crime scene for what will be day six of thin investigation. Those federal agents now learning that the gunman likely used his cell phone during the shooting, not just to browse Facebook but to text his wife, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Two hours into the three-hour Orlando shooting terror attack, while holed up in a bathroom in a standoff with police, investigators say the killer exchanged text messages with his wife, Noor Salman, asking if she had seen the news. Authorities say she also tried calling him several times during the rampage, but he didn't answer.

This, as chilling new video from inside the gay nightclub surfaces. It was taken by a survivor as the killer passed inside one of the club's bathrooms. Frightened club-goers huddling together, hoping they wouldn't be next.

Miguel Leiva recorded the grainy video. He was shot in the foot and in the leg.

LEIVA: There was about 17 of us in there. Only, like, five or six of us made it out.

SANDOVAL: Captain Mark Canty describes the moment the SWAT team breached the wall to rescue the victims inside.

CAPTAIN MARK CANTY, ORLANDO SWAT COMMANDER: While gun fire is still going on, you know, or just as our officers are engaging him, other police officers are running in there with no disregard -- with no regard for their safety, and they're pulling some of those victims out.

SANDOVAL: President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden spent the day in Orlando, meeting with victims and their families.

OBAMA: I held and hugged grieving family members and parents. And they asked, "Why does this keep happening?" And they pleaded that we do more to stop the carnage.

SANDOVAL: Obama's presidency challenged by dozens of mass shootings, forcing him to be consoler in chief. Many asking, could this massacre have been avoided?

Investigators are now piecing together the killer's past. CNN has obtained documents showing that the killer had behavioral issues dating back to elementary school. St. Lucie County school records show he was disciplined 31 times between 1992 and 1999 for rude and aggressive behavior.

A former elementary school classmate tells CNN that the shooter once threatened to bring a gun to school and kill everyone.

ROBERT ZIRKLE, CLASSMATE OF OMAR MATEEN: He was always a little out there, didn't really have too many friends.

[07:05:07] SANDOVAL: Robert Zirkle and other classmates also told CNN that, in the days following 9/11, the killer claimed Osama bin Laden was his uncle. And that he also joked about the attacks.

ZIRKLE: He was acting like a plane, like, he had his arms out. He was, like, making a plane noise, and like he would -- he made a boom sound or like an explosion type of sound, fell in his seat. He was, like, laughing about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And a gun shop owner in Jensen Beach, about two hours south of here, is now coming forward, saying that they had initially notified the FBI in the days before the shooting, saying that a suspicious individual had actually stopped by and tried to purchase body armor as well as several rounds of ammunition that was not sold.

However, when investigators asked at the time for surveillance video, for purchase records, that information couldn't be provided.

Now the owner of that store, Alisyn, is essentially saying that they believe that that individual was the man responsible for so much pain here.

Polo, that they couldn't connect the dots sooner with that. Polo, thank you very much for the reporting.

Well, terrorism and gun control, a hot topic on Capitol Hill. Donald Trump and John McCain slamming the president's anti-terror strategy, all while the Senate prepares to vote next week on four new gun control bills.

CNN's Manu Raju is live in Washington with more.

Manu, what do you have?

MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Earlier this week, there had been talks between a senior Democrat and a top Senate Republican to see if there actually could be a deal to prevent suspected terrorists from buying guns. But those talks have collapsed. And after Democratic Senator Chris Murphy led a nearly 15- hour filibuster on the floor of the Senate this week to demand action on gun control. Nothing has really changed on Capitol Hill, other than perhaps intensifying tensions over this red hot issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: It's almost like they gave up on ISIS.

RAJU (voice-over): Donald Trump taking on President Obama, joining fellow Republicans in framing the Orlando shooting as an issue of terrorism rather than guns.

TRUMP: To a large extent, he's blaming guns. And -- and I'm going to save your Second Amendment, folks.

RAJU: Top Republican John McCain striking a similar tone, laying blame for the massacre squarely at the president's feet.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Barack Obama is directly responsible for it. Because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, al Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS. And ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama's failures.

RAJU: The 2008 Republican nominee clarifying within minutes that he, quote, "misspoke," saying in a statement, "I did not mean to imply that the president was personally responsible. I was referring to President Obama's national security decisions, not the president himself."

Democrats quick to pounce, with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman telling CNN, "Senator McCain's unhinged comments are just the latest proof that Senate Republicans are puppets of Donald Trump."

This blame game happening as the gun debate continues to rage on Capitol Hill.

RYAN: Is going after the Second Amendment how you stop terrorism? No. That's not how you stop terrorism.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: The Republicans are going to have to explain to the American people why they are just plain handmaidens of the National Rifle Association.

RAJU: Both sides of the aisle presenting competing legislation aimed at keeping suspected terrorists from acquiring guns, with Democrats calling for an outright ban of sales to those on a terror watch list, something Republicans say could unfairly target innocent Americans.

And Republicans proposing to delay gun sales for three days to allow the FBI to investigate, an idea many Democrats call meaningless.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (R), NEW YORK: It's a fake. It's a way for them to say they're doing something when they're doing nothing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, as we expect the four gun bills to fail in the Senate Monday evening, watch for this fight to become a wedge issue across the country in key Senate races as Republicans try to defend 24 Senate seats and keep control of the majority. And that includes, in swing states like Pennsylvania, where Republican Senator, Pat Toomey, helped draft a universal background checks that failed in 2013.

Toomey's opposing this Democratic bill to prevent suspected terrorists from getting guns. And he has his own bill on this terror issue that Democrats themselves have already rejected. So very quickly, David, this issue getting wrapped up in election-year politics.

GREGORY: Absolutely. And Manu Raju on Capitol Hill for us this morning.

So our next guest is proposing legislation that he says would balance Republican concerns about the Second Amendment rights with those of safety.

Florida Congressman David Jolly joins us now. Congressman, good morning. Good to see you.

REP. DAVID JOLLY (R), FLORIDA: Good to be with you, David.

GREGORY: I do want to start with something that I think you're trying to address, which is the politics around guns becomes so difficult, because you have, on the one hand, saying anybody who wants any abridgement of gun rights, that they want to just take away the Second Amendment.

[07:10:06] And there are those who are progressives who do want to ban certain kinds of guns, which certainly offends a lot of gun owners and rights advocates. How do we change the approach here where gun owners, gun rights enthusiasts say there's a role to be played here to try to deal with the fact that so many weapons are used in these kinds of events?

JOLLY: There is. Listen, I'm a Second Amendment advocate, but just as heartbroken this week as every other American. David, the politics of blame aren't working, and they're not reflecting our better angels and American values.

You know, on the left, when folks Republicans are complicit in the shooting, when they yell, "Shame" on the House floor, it's wrong. So too, though, is the inaction on our side of the aisle and comments from, frankly, our presidential nominee on our side of the aisle. The politics of blame are getting us nowhere. And it's heartbreaking.

These solutions are just within reach. If we drop the partisan divide, we can do this. That's why I've circulated legislation to bridge that divide.

GREGORY: So let's talk about that. So if I'm on a terror watch list, David Gregory, if I'm on a terror watch list, I can go out and buy a weapon, if I were to pass a background check, right, that's already on the books.

You're saying, no, we should change that. That I shouldn't -- if I'm on a terror watch list, I should not be able to buy a gun. You're saying, let's make it so I can't buy a gun. But there's a caveat that you want to include in that.

JOLLY: Look, it's common sense. If you are on a watch list, you shouldn't buy a gun. But I will you, the Democratic proposal in the past is flawed, because it provides no due process for an individual, like Ted Kennedy was, who's wrongly on that list, to petition to be removed. My legislation does this. It says if you're on the watch list, you can't buy a gun.

But if you're turned down because you're on the watch list, the government has ten days to notify you of that. And you are entitled to a due process hearing within 30 days, where the government must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, why you should be prohibited from purchasing a firearm. The proceeding is secret to protect privacy, but the individual is entitled to all the unclassified information used against them.

GREGORY: So this is interesting. This is very interesting, because basically, early on in an investigation of whether or not an individual is a terrorist or a potential terrorism. You want that individual to be notified that they're on the list and to be able to confront some of that evidence. And I just want to play some sound from FBI Director Jim Comey, who has proposed this on these grounds. Listen to what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: If someone on the watch list purchases or attempts to purchase a firearm, an immediate alert is sent to the agents who are the source of the suspicion about that individual, so they can incorporate that information into their investigation.

It's a little bit challenging for us, because known or suspected means it hasn't been adjudicated in every case that somebody is a terrorist, that somebody we're investigating. So we don't want to, obviously, blow our investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY: The challenge here, Congressman, is that we want investigators to connect the dots. We don't want them to miss shooters like in this case.

JOLLY: Of course.

GREGORY: Do you worry that what you're proposing would do that, would hamper their ability to investigate?

JOLLY: No, because understand, if you're on the fly list and you go to buy a ticket, you're going to be turned down, as well. This also creates flexibility for the government to have ten days for how they notify the individual why they were turned down.

If it is an immediate investigation and immediate emergency, there's flexibility for the government to do that.

Understand, though, I've drafted this bill. I have not yet introduced it. I circulated it to all of my colleagues to say, "Help me make it better." How do we solve this, Republicans and Democrats?

David, let's inject some radical common sense into this issue. On my side of the aisle, if you're on the no-fly list, you shouldn't be able to buy a gun. It's common sense. But on the left, you shouldn't be able to throw due process and Second Amendment rights under the bus, simply for a political agenda. The politics of divide is heartbreaking, and it's going to destroy us.

GREGORY: The point is well made. But certainly, throwing due process out, there's lots of things we do in society in the name of protection, that we -- we willfully give up aspects of our personal liberty.

When my ten-year-old son goes through a random screening at the airport, it's fairly ridiculous. But I have ceded that right for the greater good. Why don't you think some due process rights ought to be abridged here?

JOLLY: What I am saying is this. You're on the watch list without any notification. That's the way it currently works. The FBI can continue its investigation. But if you go to purchase a firearm, which is a constitutionally protected privilege, and the government says you're not allowed to, I believe that individual is entitled to know why.

It can be done in a private hearing where only unclassified information is presented to that individual. But I believe an American citizen is due to know why their government is turning down a constitutional protection. Is there an easy solution here? No. But we can balance due process, Second Amendment rights with our national security interests and the common sense of not letting a terrorist buy a gun.

GREGORY: You've made your points; two quick political points. Speaker Ryan has said that these measures are an attack on the Second Amendment. Do you think your legislation or any legislation will pass the House?

[07:15:08] JOLLY: It should. You know, I'm from Florida. We left a state that was united in mourning together Sunday night. I got on a plane and went to a Congress that is divided for no other reason -- The American people are begging for unity. And we have a Congress that's peddling partisan divide simply for a winner-take-all November agenda, and it's wrong. So we can protect the Second Amendment while also protecting our communities in due process and keeping terrorists from buying guns.

GREGORY: And -- and before you go, what about running for the Senate yourself? You, of course, have talked about running for the seat that's being vacated by Senator Marco Rubio, who of course, ran unsuccessfully for the presidency. Where's your head on that this morning?

JOLLY: You know, I've been running for 10 months. We've been polling out front. Marco is saying he's getting in. I would love to announce this on national news this morning, but I owe it to my community to wait until noon today. I'll let my community know my intentions.

GREGORY: I thought that "just between us thing" might work, but I guess not. Congressman...

JOLLY: Between us and the American people

GREGORY: Right. Thank you so much for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

Alisyn, to you.

JOLLY: Thanks, David.

CAMEROTA: Nice try, David.

We do have some breaking news. Investigators have now recovered both black boxes from the wreckage of Egypt Flight -- EgyptAir Flight 804 in the Mediterranean. The aircraft's flight data recorder was found overnight. That device was damaged, as was the cockpit voice recorder. But investigators were able to retrieve, they say, the memory unit from it. It is now on its way to Egypt for analysis.

Egypt 804 crashed last month on a flight from Paris to Egypt with 66 people on board.

GREGORY: Meantime, a sobering assessment of the campaign against ISIS from the head of the CIA. John Brennan telling a Senate committee despite gains, efforts to disrupt the group's ability to carry out and inspire terror attacks have failed. And he calls the radicalization of the so-called lone-wolf attacker an exceptionally challenging issue for intelligence agencies.

CAMEROTA: Disney World now planning to put up signs at their resorts warning guests of alligators. This comes two days after that 2-year- old was killed when he was snatched and dragged into a lagoon by a gator.

CNN's Martin Savidge is covering this. He's live in Florida with more. Good morning, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Yes, we now have an official cause of death of how this child died, coming from the coroner, saying that it was a combination of factors. It was trauma, and it was also drowning.

Meanwhile, the Florida Fish and Wildlife organization is saying, it's very critical. They need to make sure that they have captured and euthanized the correct alligator in this attack. The way that they're making that confirmation, they say, is for the alligators that they have killed, they will compare the teeth to the puncture wounds on the child himself. Vital, they say, to make sure that that alligator is captured.

And then there were the changes that are coming to Disney. You've alluded to them, and it's more than just signs. Here's the statement that came from the company: "We are conducting a swift and thorough review of all of our processes and protocols. This includes the number and placement and wording of our signage and warnings."

You will remember that the signs that were at the Grand Floridian where this attack took place simply asked guests not to go swimming. And many have felt it was more appropriate to say, "Hey, there are alligators. This is dangerous in the water there." So those are the changes we expect to see -- David.

CAMEROTA: Martin, thank you.

GREGORY: Thank you, Martin Savidge, very much, in Florida this morning.

Singer and former "Voice" contestant, Christina Grimmie, will be laid to rest exactly a week after she was gunned down in Orlando. That's video, of course, of the 22-year-old singer's last performance. Authorities say Grimmie was shot by an obsessed fan during a meet and greet with some of her fans. Adam Levine, her coach on the NBC reality show, is paying for the funeral expenses.

CAMEROTA: Well, the Orlando terrorist and his wife exchanging text messages during the attack. What did they say? Did the wife know what was happening? We are talking to the Orange County mayor and a survivor whose best friend died. And you'll know that name, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:23:14] OBAMA: We can't anticipate or catch every single deranged person that may wish to do harm to his neighbors or his friends or his co-workers or strangers, but we can do something about the amount of damage that they do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: President Obama addressing the nation after meeting with survivors and families of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. He is making an appeal for change during his ninth visit to the scene of a mass shooting.

Let's bring in the mayor of Orange County, Florida, Teresa Jacobs; and a survival of the attack who lost his best friend, Demetrius Naulings. Thanks to both of you for being here.

Mayor, I'd like to start with you. I know you met with the president and vice president yesterday. What were they able to do and say to the community?

MAYOR TERESA JACOBS, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA: You know, sometimes just being physically here is all you can do and say. We're so honored and so touched that the president and vice-president are here physically, came to visit with families and our first responders, and for even the people that he wasn't able to talk to directly. I just think it means so much to us as a community, to so many that are healing.

Demetrius certainly on the front line, really taking the brunt of this. But all of us have been hurt and impacted, because we love each other here in this community. And knowing that the president, our president, has come to care is extremely important to our healing process.

CAMEROTA: Demetrius, were you able to hear the president or meet with him?

DEMETRIUS NAULINGS, SURVIVOR WHOSE FRIEND WAS KILLED IN NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING: I watched it on the news, actually. I didn't go to it, because I was dealing with a lot of other things. You know, plans for arrangements for funerals and candle lightings.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

[07:25:05] NAULINGS: So I didn't -- unfortunately, I didn't go to see the president.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Demetrius, I just want to talk about what you endured that night, because you were at the Pulse nightclub with your best friend, Eddie Justice. And we have all learned Eddie Justice's name and story because of the series of text messages that he and his mother exchanged while this was happening. He was telling his mom that he loved him [SIC]. Here on the screen are some of these text messages. And he was trying to get help. He was telling his mom to call the police and that there were a bunch of people in the bathroom and where police could find them.

And sadly, the police did not make it in time to save Eddie. And I know that you are haunted by the last exchange that you had with him. Can you tell us about those moments?

NAULINGS: Absolutely. One thing I will say before I say that, Eddie Justice was a really good person, a very outspoken, loveable person. So we're going to speak on love.

That night was just not a horror movie. It was the boogeyman. You know, knowing that you don't know who's there to come get you or what's going to go on, because you don't see him. You know? You're waiting for the light to come on and your parents to say, you know, "Hey, it's OK. It's all right. You know, you're safe and no one's going to hurt you. You're out of harm, danger."

That night started very late for us, actually, you know. I believe that we probably were the last three people to walk in that club, because we got to the club really late. It was like 1:45. My last Snap message was, like, at 2:02. The one that you guys have been seeing on the news. And the other one, you know, was all blurry to me.

The light goes out. You hear a ring of shots are fired. You know, people were running around, scattered, hectic from things like that. Me and Eddie just actually ran into the women's bathroom. And when I went into the women's bathroom, I got, like, this ball in my stomach that this was just a trap. We weren't even going to -- you need to get out.

I looked at him, and I told him, I was like, "This is a trap. We need to get out."

And he looked at me with the face of, I'm afraid. When you're always the one that takes care of your friends, it's like they look at you to be the big brother. So that's how the relationship was with us. And he looked at me. He was like, "Please, don't let go of my hand. Just make sure you get me out."

If anyone knew me and Eddie, we were always hand in hand, you know, right hand to right hand. So when I walked out of that bathroom, it was...

CAMEROTA: I don't want to interrupt. I just want you to know that, even though you were supposed to be his big brother or you thought that you were, there was nothing you could do that night. I mean, I know that you feel terrible that you got separated from Eddie but, you know, it was chaos. I mean, it was a war zone in there.

NAULINGS: It's easy to say to not blame yourself when you are the survivor and you lost someone. It's totally different. It kills you every day that you wake up, and you're not going to get another text message or to know that that's going to be your best friend.

I can only imagine what his mother is going through, because she has to bury her son, her child. I will never know what that feels like. I will only know what it feels like to lose a best friend, a brother, a companionship that goes beyond a friendship.

This community that we're in is more than just a community. This is a family to us. We were in our comfort zone. This was somewhere like church. This could have happened at church, the movie theater.

JACOBS: This is where you were safe.

CAMEROTA: Yes. A safe haven.

JACOBS: It is.

CAMEROTA: So -- so mayor, I just want to ask you, what are you doing for the community moving forward?

JACOBS: You know, we are trying to use this as an opportunity for all of us to learn to care more. There are a lot of people who still harbor indifference and bigotry and hatred, and this is an opportunity for people to see what we know here in Orlando and Orange County.

And that is that we're all brothers and sisters. And we all have to take care of each other.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

JACOBS: And if more people felt that way, we would have less hate.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely.

JACOBS: We would have less young men growing up and young women growing up feeling so conflicted and so lost.

CAMEROTA: Well, that is...

JACOBS: So we do what we can here. We're bringing our churches together. We've brought them together. And we've called on our faith-based leaders to say, you need to be part of the solution and the healing, not part of the message that separates and alienates and persecutes.

CAMEROTA: Such a great point.

JACOBS: ... to the occasion.

CAMEROTA: We are all following your lead with your message of love. We've heard that repeatedly in the past few tragic days. Mayor Teresa Jacobs and Demetrius Naulings, thank you for sharing your personal stories with us.

The dynamic duo this morning with such a great moment and ice and message after such a difficult week.