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New Day

Tens of Thousands Honor Manchester Attack Victims; Fired FBI Director James Comey To Testify This Week; ISIS Claims Responsibility For London Terror Attack; Trump Attacks London Mayor. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 05, 2017 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:45] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We have new information about the London terror attack. ISIS is claiming responsibility for what happened Saturday in London. Seven lost their lives, 48 injured, many are still in very bad shape. We will check on their condition. The police have been all over it, conducting raids in East London in connection with the attack. Eleven people now in custody. Police may know the names of those who were taken out -- the three actual assailants. They're not being released and the police chief indicated that they believe that this was a homegrown incident.

President Trump is under fire this morning for criticizing London's mayor and stoking fear immediately after the London attack.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: (Video playing) So, tens of thousands of people united in this emotional show of defiance. This was a tribute concert for the Manchester terror victims. Pop star Ariana Grande returning to the city to headline the star-studded benefit concert just two weeks after the terror attack at her concert.

CNN's Phil Black is live in Manchester with more. The video just looks so emotional of this night, Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning. It was a concert like nothing else I've experienced before. Extraordinary atmosphere, a sea of people -- these 50,000 people in this contained space -- waves of noise and emotion coming from them -- mixed emotions. Many of those people had been at Ariana Grande's concert two weeks ago. They'd heard the explosion and experienced the panic. These are people who were nervous and, yet, still excited to be there.

It was also a celebration of this community and its strength, while also paying respect to those it had lost. Emotional, too, for Ariana Grande. It was her fans that were targeted two weeks ago. She was clearly moved at various points throughout the concert. There were so many special moments. Here are some of the highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIANA GRANDE, SINGER: I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia's mommy a few days ago and as soon as I met her I started crying and I gave her a big hug. And she said that this is so kind but Olivia wouldn't have wanted me to cry. And then she told me that Olivia would have wanted to hear the hits. Thank you so much for coming together and being so loving and strong and unified.

CROWD (singing): She knows it's too late as we're walking on by. Her soul slides away, but don't look back in anger.

KATY PERRY, SINGER: It's not easy to always choose love, is it? Tell them I love you. Look in your -- look in their eyes. Say I love you.

WILL.I.AM, SINGER: All these people who are fearless, who come for love, we will not be separated.

CROWD (singing):Father, father, father help us, send some guidance from above. 'Cos people got me, got me questionin', where is the love?"

JUSTIN BIEBER, SINGER: I just want to take this moment to honor the people that were lost or that were taken. We love you so much. To the families, we love you so much.

[05:35:05] GRANDE: (Singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACK: There was a huge police operation to keep those crowds safe and, ultimately, this amazing event was a very successful, powerful rejection of the violence that has now taken lives in two British cities recently.

CUOMO: And that is the power, right, Phil? As you've seen time and again, maybe not as largely and beautifully demonstrated as that, terror has its purpose in trying to stop civilization. When civilization shows it will not be deterred, that is equally as powerful.

So, we have a big week coming up here. What will the former FBI director James Comey say when he faces senators? They're expected to question him and to see if he will verify that Trump asked him to back off the Russia investigation. What else might he confirm? Could the president invoke executive privilege to stop him from testifying? We discuss the possibilities next.

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CUOMO: We are just days away from the most anticipated congressional testimony in decades. Fired FBI director James Comey is going to testify on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Will he say that the president asked him to stop the Russia investigation? What will it mean if he does? Let's discuss with CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger, and CNN political analysts Jackie Kucinich and David Drucker.

Mr. Sanger, what do we expect out of Comey, what are we looking for in terms of the unknown, and what is the potential impact?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, what we expect is a confirmation of everything you've read in the run-up the past couple of weeks in the "Times," the "Post," other publications that have revealed that Comey felt as if he was under some pressure. That the president asked him to go light on Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser. That Comey was taking extensive notes right after each one of these conversations, sometimes scribbling them down in the car as he left the White House grounds so that he would have a fresh memory of all of this.

[05:40:00] What would be interesting to hear is what Mr. Comey believes the connections were, if any, between any members of the Trump campaign, the transition, or the Trump White House back to the Russians. Whether there were deals under discussion about lifting of sanctions over Ukraine.

CAMEROTA: Can he answer that in public session?

SANGER: I don't think he can, and so here's the critical part of this, Alisyn. He has sat down and talked through this testimony with Robert Mueller, who is one of his oldest and dearest friends -- somebody who got him through a lot of really tough moments, so these are not two people who are not familiar with each other. Mueller has made it pretty clear what he thinks the line is that would get into the investigation itself, so my guess is that you're not going to hear a huge amount beyond what we've already read that is in those Comey notes.

CUOMO: Is anybody bothered among the Senate constituency here by this. It's been taken as a matter of fact that oh yes, Mueller should tell Comey whether he should testify and what he should say. That's not Mueller's job. Mueller doesn't have the authority to say who goes before Congress. You could argue constitutionally that Congress has more authority to bring someone before it than Mueller does to control it. Is there any kind of pushback, Jackie? You are hearing about any senators saying look, we respect Mueller, but don't tell people what they can say in front of us and when they should come.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think because of the relationship between these two men, that was outstanding, you're not hearing that as much. I think it's kind of assumed, particularly -- actually, the opposite of what we're hearing from some senators is OK, Mueller is there so that's a good thing and so more will come out after --

CUOMO: But what if he comes up there and says yes, I can't talk about it, special counsel asked me not to. I'm sorry, I can't. If it's a nothing berber (ph) --

KUCINICH: Right.

CUOMO: -- because of deference to Mueller's investigation, what will that mean to the senators?

KUCINICH: I think you'll see a lot of frustrated Democrats, in particular, that day. But I think David's right. I think it's more likely that we hear a lot of what we've heard before from James -- from news reports rather than from James Comey -- and hearing it from him is a compelling -- it is a compelling situation.

CAMEROTA: Oh, it's called must-see T.V. if it really happens on Thursday. I'm skeptical that it actually is going to happen because we keep hearing the speculation that something could happen to prevent it. That President Trump could invoke executive privilege, and David, why wouldn't President Trump invoke executive privilege to try to stop Comey?

DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it would be a bad idea.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but that doesn't stop the president. I mean, I've heard that, that people say it would be a bad idea but in terms of authority, I mean, it doesn't stop the president. Why wouldn't he try to do that?

DRUCKER: Well, the president may determine -- may -- that he has more to lose because if you try to stop Comey from speaking then, basically, he's already said the worst thing he can say without every saying it because what is the president if afraid of. Look, I think David laid out a scenario with all of the trimmings there that give us something to watch for, but I think there's another option here that's possible and I think we can look last year to what James Comey had to say about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as a guide. You know, he said that there wasn't enough, in his view, to indict. There wasn't criminal intent. But he said that she was careless and possibly putting national security at risk --

CUOMO: Extremely careless --

DRUCKER: -- and --

CUOMO: -- and people argued he picked those words because they have a statutory language that could have triggered --

DRUCKER: Yes.

CUOMO: -- an indictment.

DRUCKER: And Republicans, I don't think, ever really appreciated the damage that that did to her because the selling point for Hillary Clinton, who wasn't always a touchy, feely politician -- that people didn't warm to her the way they warmed to her husband -- was she is competent, she knows what she's doing. You may not always agree with her but she will be fit for office and that --

CAMEROTA: Right, but how does that fly to what you think he might be --

DRUCKER: Because I could picture him going before the Senate Intelligence Committee and not saying that he ever felt like the president was trying to quash an investigation, but saying things about the president sort of beating, you know, around the edges, saying about the president was concerned about himself but didn't try and actually quash Flynn and things of that nature. So in a sense, not saying there was any sort of obstruction of justice or something like it -- CAMEROTA: Just inappropriate.

DRUCKER: -- but a lot of inappropriate, improper discussion and that could also do a lot of damage.

CUOMO: Well, if he were to say something that suggested some kind of criminality he would immediately get punched in the nose by not having done anything about it, so there's somewhat of, you know, anticipation there he's not going to go that far. But the biggest event of the week would be if Alisyn's right, which is executive -- you know, executive immunity. If he claims that, wow, what a story. It is not anticipated to happen. What do you think?

SANGER: All the indications we're getting from the president's aides, and they could be wrong, is that he is --

CAMEROTA: Is the president, ultimately, could decide to do it.

SANGER: Decide at the last minute --

CUOMO: Check Twitter.

SANGER: -- to go do it --

CAMEROTA: Right.

SANGER: -- but all the indications are he's not going to go do that. If I had to bet here I would say that you're going to see Comey portray himself as the person who was standing between the president and the FBI investigators and, basically, say look, I can take this, I've taken pressure before. I can handle the president and deflect it and protect the investigation.Now, if the president had gone around Comey through, say, the attorney general, the deputy attorney general or others to try to influence the investigation that might be a different story.

[05:45:25] CAMEROTA: All right. Panel, thank you very much for all of the predictions. We'll see what happens in just a few days.

CUOMO: Now, it's happening Thursday. It will be interesting for you to listen to all the hype and the spin that leads up to Thursday from people who know Comey, from people who want him to be effective and ineffective. We're going to have special coverage beginning at 9:00 a.m. for Comey's testimony on Thursday. That will be 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

CAMEROTA: So, an angry exchange between President Trump and the mayor of London just hours after the terror attack. Did President Trump go too far in his tweets? We discuss international reaction with Christiane Amanpour, next.

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[05:50:10] CAMEROTA: ISIS has now claimed responsibility for the deadly terror attack in London. British Prime Minister Theresa May convening an emergency meeting with her top security officials and she just gave a statement moments ago, so let's listen to that.

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THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The police have now identified all three of the attackers and when progress in the investigation permits, metropolitan police will release the names.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so she's confirming that they know the names but they have not yet given it to the media or the public.

CUOMO: Right, which they are very careful about, in general, because there's a big belief there that the fewer people who know there, it makes it easier to access associates. It makes it easier to get into those people's lives without people trying to cover.

CAMEROTA: That is a difference of style than the U.S. because in the U.S. we have a feeling of get as many eyeballs on the target as possible and the public can help you find more --

CUOMO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- information. Let's bring in now, CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. She is live outside of 10 Downing Street. So, Christiane, you know, look, Theresa May is obviously in the spotlight for all the things that she's said in terms of things have to change.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, she's in the spotlight, as well, under pressure because of what's happened in the last three months -- three terrorist attacks on her watch and six previous years as Home Secretary with rapid declines in police on the beat. So she is under a huge amount of pressure on one of the key issues that matters most to people and that is security, particularly as she's going into an election on Thursday.

But on the facts of this, they have had more raids overnight in parts of East London. They have at least, she said today, 11 people in custody including several women. We've heard about seven women have been rounded up in these raids as they try to flush out who these people are. They know who they are, but who their families are, how they may become radicalized. So that's a huge issue going now.

And so we've heard also from the police chief here who has talked about how it's really, really difficult because although she says since 2013 -- they've disrupted 18 plots since 2013 -- she says that, you know, what's happening right now is an alarmingly rapid rate of theory to action. In other words, these people are low-tech, can think about the plan and then enact it much, much quicker than perhaps they've ever been able to do before.

CUOMO: And contrary to the way that the U.S. president wanted to use this event, which was as a justification for his ban and therefore, by implication, the threat of those who come from abroad to your homeland, the police chief there is saying they're dealing with a homegrown problem -- that's even more difficult. It explains the secrecy a little bit in terms of revealing the names because you're trying to find all their associates. And there's also an additional level of concern when it's homegrown, right?

AMANPOUR: Well yes, but you know, that's the same in the United States as well --

CUOMO: Yes.

AMANPOUR: -- so there's a lot of controversy around this whole banning and immigration issue because what we've seen, whether it's here in London, whether it's in the United States, whether it was in France or Brussels or all these places that we've been seeing, most of this has been homegrown essentially. So there is a whole nother level of -- you know, we talked about lone wolves in the last year or so and now this iteration is different. It's not lone wolf anymore, it's rapidly radicalizing people who are coming from inside the society, so that is very, very difficult for them.

Just to say, the threat level remains at severe, which means that they have not raised in the aftermath of the Saturday night attack. Severe means another attack might be likely. They have also started, overnight and this morning, putting certain crash barriers and concrete barriers on some of the bridges. We know for sure on Westminster Bridge, which was the target of the vehicle and the knife attack back on March 22nd.

So we also have a situation here where the mayor of London has been, again, criticized by Donald Trump and that is creating a furious response not just here in London but around Europe. One leader saying can you imagine if any foreign head of state had criticized the mayor of New York in the wake of the 9/11 attack? So there's a huge amount of consternation about the messages coming from the U.S. as well.

CAMEROTA: And, in fact, I mean, we've heard that the mayor put out this statement that he wasn't going to respond to President Trump's latest tweet. But this relationship -- I mean, there's been bad blood between these two since the travel ban and it doesn't seem to be getting better.

AMANPOUR: Well, even before that because during the campaign when President Trump came out -- or then-candidate Trump came out and said I, Donald Trump, am going to ban all Muslims, et cetera. Then the mayor, who had been recently elected, said, you know -- obviously spoke against that even though he had been told that there would be special exceptions for, you know, good Muslims, let's say. I'm paraphrasing, obviously, but he was pretty angry about that. So yes, there's been blood.

[05:55:02] And after one of the previous attacks, which was on Westminster -- again, we had the mayor making statements which said, you know, people in big cities like this need to be careful, need to be vigilant after Paris, after Brussels, after Istanbul, after, you know, the United States. In big cities people have got to be vigilant and have got to be careful. And Donald Trump, Jr. furiously tweeted it seems a deliberate attempt or an ill-informed attempt because he saidit had been taken out of context because, of course, the mayor was saying over the weekend don't be alarmed by the extra police that we have to keep you safe.

CAMEROTA: Christiane, thank you very much for the perspective from London.

CUOMO: There had been some talk that the president might consider going to London in a show of support. It will be interesting to see how that message is received -- if that type of visit is asked for.

All right, so again, ISIS has taken responsibility for the attack. There's an open question as to whether or not this was planned from abroad or it is homegrown and inspired. And as you just heard from Christiane, there is fallout back her at home for what happened in London and it falls on the shoulders of President Trump. We have that, next.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY breaking news.

CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Monday, June 5th, 6:00 here in New York.

And we do begin with breaking news because British Prime Minister Theresa May says police now know the identities of the three attackers who carried out the London attack that killed seven people and injured 48 others on Saturday. Police in London are carrying out a series of raids.