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Officials: ISIS Leader Killed In U.S. Drone Strike; Donald Trump To Speak In Phoenix Today; Pope Visits Children's Hospital, Holds Mass; Questions Remain On Scope Of Government Data Breach; Cancer Doctor Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison; Church Shooter Should Not Have Had Gun; Eurozone Leaders Gather to Decide Greece's Fate; Williams Goes for 6th Wimbledon Title. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired July 11, 2015 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00] COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: He is denying the allegation. Now last year Cook was named in an aggravated assault case where two men were alleged to have waved a gun at a neighbor. Cook was charged with criminal mischief then and has since completed a diversion program.
Remember, FSU made headlines just a couple of days ago when this video was released. Quarterback, De'Andre Johnson, striking a woman at a bar. He's also been charged with misdemeanor battery.
A bit of a trend there with Florida State football star running back, Carlos Williams, was involved in a domestic battery investigation last year, but he was never charged.
Also, last year's number one overall draft pick, Jameis Winston, was accused of sexual assault in 2013. He was never charged either. Now last hour, we asked you, if FSU has an institutional problem or that there are just have a lot of bad apples.
Here's what you had to say, great responses, Mike Drumm, "This problem is an ongoing thing. The problem is the institution doesn't know how to stop it."
Catherine said, "Managing conflict is learned at home. If mom/dad hit, children learn to hit and become adults that hit as well." You guys we love your responses. Thank you so much as always for joining us here on NEW DAY.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we've been seeing it on Twitter too. Thank you so much. Appreciate it, Coy.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Stay with us because we've got a busy morning of news.
PAUL: The next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.
Donald Trump pushing an immigration message hard today in the southwest. Overflowing crowds expected to greet him in a state deeply divided by this issue. How much can this singular issue, the singular focus that rallied the Republican base and his supporters all at the expense of possibly alienating the critical Latino vote. PAUL: And using cancer patients as a money-making opportunity. A Michigan doctor now heads to prison for 45 years. Victims are outraged saying that is not long enough.
BLACKWELL: And big crowds following Pope Francis this time in Paraguay. Thousands wait for a special morning mass as the pope makes an unprecedented reach to the gay community.
PAUL: We are so grateful to have you with us as always. I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.
PAUL: Yes, we begin with some breaking news out of Afghanistan, an ISIS leader wanted for plotting to kill Americans has been killed in a U.S. drone strike. Thirty other insurgents in that strike on their compound as well.
Hafiz Saeed was a former Taliban leader is believed that he then joined ISIS. Want to bring in CNN global affairs analyst, Lieutenant Colonel James Reese.
Colonel, I want to clarify exactly who this man was. There was a man, Hafiz Saeed, who had a $10 million bounty on his head. Do we know if this is the same person?
LT. COLONEL JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning, Christi. Right now, we don't and that's what is going on, this strike happened two days ago in Afghanistan. Intelligence was brought in by the Afghan National Director of the Security, the NDS, which is kind of combination of our FBI and CIA that the U.S. has trained through years.
It is a very, very capable security and intelligence agency for President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah. But right now, like you said, there were reports back in April that the same gentleman, who is from the Pakistan area came over to join ISIS and killed himself by placing an IED. So it will be interesting to see what shakes out here in the next couple of days.
PAUL: OK, as we try to clarify exactly who is this is, if it is indeed the man that they think it to be. How big of a blow might that be to ISIS?
REESE: Well, it's a big piece for ISIS especially with their movement into other areas especially Afghanistan. What is interesting in Afghanistan, and I know a lot of people don't keep their eyes on Afghanistan with all the American forces that are still there, still trying to support the Afghan government.
The Taliban especially along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a lot are disillusioned because they have not been very successful pushing back into Kabul.
And a lot of them are trying to find a new banner to fly and we are seeing that in Afghanistan right now with the ISIS flag. So if this strike is confirmed, because back in April it was never confirmed that Hamiz was killed. It will be a big blow to ISIS in Afghanistan and a great win for the Afghan government.
PAUL: All righty. Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, we are so grateful for your insight as always. Thank you, sir.
REESE: Thanks, Christi.
BLACKWELL: Let's turn now to Donald Trump's west coast swing. Today the 2016 presidential candidate is expecting a huge crowd for his rally in Phoenix. We are talking thousands of people here.
Organizers had to change the venue because of the amount of people expected to turn out for this rally. This comes after his Los Angeles stop where Trump was greeted by protesters, look.
(VIDEO CLIP)
[08:05:06] BLACKWELL: Now, of course, they are angry about this comments that Trump continues to reinforce that Mexicans crossing the border are rapists and criminals.
Meanwhile, Trump met with families whose loved ones were killed by undocumented immigrants. After that close door meeting Trump said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are housing people from all over the world that other countries don't want. They are sending criminals to us and we are putting the criminals in jail. Oftentimes after they've killed somebody or hurt somebody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So we'll start with the rally today in Arizona and then talk about the larger implications. We have on the phone with us, CNN political reporter, MJ Lee. MJ, what are we expecting today at this rally?
MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER (via telephone): Good morning, Victor. As you mentioned, we are expecting a very large crowd in Arizona according to his campaign officials. Trump is initially expected to speak to about 500 people and then the number of RSVPs that they were getting in ballooned so much that they were then expecting 4,000 people and then they were hearing the number of 7,500 people.
So for sure this is going to be a massive turnout, 7,000, if that ends up being the case. It's a big turnout and a big rally for any presidential candidate and I think in terms of the content of Trump's speech, we're going to hear him doubling down.
This is not, you know, a situation where we have heard Mr. Trump take back anything he has said or apologize or retract any of his statements on the first couple of weeks of his campaign. So I think the expectation is that he will continue to talk about immigration in the way that he has so far. He has talked about building this wall along the southern border of this country.
He has talked about the fact that he believes people coming into the country illegally are criminals, are rapists, I think we can fully expect him to go there again today.
BLACKWELL: MJ, it's important to talk about here not only the people who are going to be there, but the people who will not be there with Donald Trump?
LEE: Yes, I think that for sure we are probably going to see protestors show up to this Arizona event as we did yesterday in Los Angeles. I think their presence will certainly be noticeable.
You know, they are standing outside of this event holding up signs and telling him that his comments are extremely offensive. They are inappropriate.
I think that we are expecting sizable crowds to show up to support him. I think also the people that are likely to show up to protest his candidacy and his recent comments, that that crowd is also likely to be a sizable one as well.
BLACKWELL: Yes, and the people on the list of no-shows. Also, Republican leaders there across the state and congressional leaders there in the Republican Party. MJ Lee, thank you so much for joining us. We'll talk more as we get closer to the start of that rally later today.
Let's talk more about the implications now and we have with us, a Republican strategist, Lisa Boothe, CNN political commentator, Errol Louis back with us as well.
So we're going to see Donald Trump in the context of the comments made, at least alongside Sheriff Joe Arpiao. This has to be troubling for the party leadership?
LISA BOOTHE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: But it's not because as I've mentioned before, Victor, Donald Trump is not the Republican nominee. He is not in leadership. He does not represent the Republican Party.
And I think you would be hard-pressed to find a Republican candidate or anyone in leadership or a lot of Republicans who are standing by those comments that he made.
So he is not representative of the Republican Party, and look, we are talking about over a year out from the election. I highly doubt that Donald Trump is still going to be in the picture a couple months from now.
As I've mentioned before, if you look at this time in 2011, November of 2011, Michele Bachmann was polling at 17 percent and then shortly thereafter, she was pulling at 4 percent. At one point during the 2012 election, Herman Cain was polling at 23 percent and then shortly thereafter draws out of the race.
BLACKWELL: Well, Errol, obviously, there are many who believed that Donald Trump will not be the nominee. We've seen that, of course, in the reporting, but he is forcing other candidates to talk about this issue, and we have seen some, namely, Ted Cruz, salute Donald Trump for putting a light on this issue and some struggling with how exactly to react to Trump as it relates to immigration.
ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right, Victor. I mean, people on the left and the right seemed to be on an anti-Donald Trump kicks these days.
[08:10:07] But it's important to keep in mind, just as Lisa says, we are in the very early stages of his presidential campaign and frankly this is where ideas and candidates are supposed to be surfaced even if they don't make it to the final round.
There are a lot of different reasons to support a candidate. Frankly, there are a lot of different reasons to run that don't include getting Donald Trump to the White House.
I think I've learned more about sanctuary cities or refreshed my knowledge of them in the last few days and I thought about in the last year. And so this is why we have presidential campaigns. Everybody says let's have a national conversation.
Well, this is the national conversation. We should all get used to the idea that some parts of that conversation look a little bit ugly and I won't be surprised if some fairly ugly sentiments get expressed.
People are very, very angry about what has got on with immigration, with the lack of progress out of Washington and that is, indeed, part of his presidential race.
BLACKWELL: So I hear your argument, Lisa, that Donald Trump, you believe, will not be the nominee so let's set his candidacy aside for just a moment and let's look at the general election.
We mentioned these numbers in the last hour. I want to put them up for our viewers who are joining us this hour. In 2004, George W. Bush, 44 percent of the Latino vote.
Four years later, John McCain, 31 percent. In 2012, you got Mitt Romney with 27 percent of the Latino vote. What does the party have to do to increase that number?
BOOTHE: Well, I think you are seeing that the Republican field right now is representative of those numbers. As I've mentioned, we have got two Hispanics on the ballot that are running right now. We've got Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, so I think that the Republican field is representative of those numbers.
Obviously, immigration is an important issue that we should discuss, but I think the difference here is that we also need to talk about legal immigration. That is the problem that we are facing as a country. We saw this over last summer with the border surgeon so I do think that we need to talk about illegal immigration. I do think that Democrats tend to avoid wanting to talk about that issue.
BLACKWELL: All right, do you expect that Marco Rubio really wants to talk about immigration considering his history with the issue?
BOOTHE: Why not talk about immigration? Look, we are a country -- as Marco Rubio has said himself that over a million people per year come to the United States legally.
So we are a country of, you know, immigration, but we are also a nation of laws and so did you think that we need to talk about the aspect of illegal immigration and also talk about the aspects of the fact that we do need to follow our laws and follow the laws on the books and we have a president who has not done that.
BLACKWELL: And of course, that's the reference to the plan he put forward and then had to walk away from several years ago. Lisa Boothe, Errol Louis, thanks so much. We'll keep talking.
BOOTHE: Thank you, Victor.
PAUL: Well, Pope Francis preparing for big day in Paraguay. At this hour, he is meeting with sick kids. Then he has a visit with thousands of faithful at an important shrine. A live report from Paraguay is next for you.
Also outrage over the prison sentence for a Michigan cancer doctor, this man, who admitted to giving chemotherapy to patients who didn't even have cancer, why prosecutors say this doctor treated his patients as profit centers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:16:33]
BLACKWELL: New this morning, a sex abuse trial at the Vatican has been postponed. It's after a former Vatican official accused of former sexually abusing minors was hospitalized. Josef Wesolowski is also accused of possessing child pornography while he was a papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
The Vatican had begun investigating him two years ago and they defrocked him last year. So far he is the highest ranking official arrested and being tried on such charges at the Vatican.
PAUL: Now to Paraguay where the pope is visiting a children's hospital this morning. After that he'll be holding mass where thousands are expected to attend. Want to go to CNN's Shasta Darlington who is there -- Shasta.
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christi. No doubt, this will be another one of those emotional moments. When you see children around Pope Francis, it is something magnetic. They just lunge at him and hug him and don't want to let go. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see those same reactions at the children's hospital. Then of course, he's going to head to the first major mass here in Paraguay and it's expected to be a big one. It's the most revered shrine here.
It's also a very popular pilgrimage for immigrants from the region. We should see a lot of Argentines there obviously. Pope Francis is from Argentina. They expect more than a million people.
Considering that this is a country of just 7 million that says a lot, people are already lining the papal route and packed into the area around the shrine where he's going to celebrate mass. So this should be a very popular event today -- Christi.
PAUL: I understand he is meeting a prominent leader of the LGBT community later this afternoon? What do you know about that?
DARLINGTON: That's right. This has the potential to be a historic meeting. He is meeting with a number of community leaders and among them is a popular gay activist, who wants to send a message to the pope that here in Paraguay gay and lesbian children are still being violently thrown out of their homes.
And that the Catholic Church can work together with the gay community to tell parents you must love your children just the way they are. Here's really hoping that coming out of this meeting, that message will be sent to the very conservative Catholic families here in Paraguay -- Christi.
PAUL: All righty, Shasta Darlington, we appreciate the update. Thank you so much.
BLACKWELL: So after the major shake-up as a result of this federal computer system breach, this huge breach, there are now new details about the personal information stolen by hackers, more than a million fingerprints stolen.
Plus a close encounter, too close with a shark. Now a beach is closed, but not where you would expect. This time it is not on the east coast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: So after the worst data breach ever against the U.S. government, the head of the Office of Personnel Management has resigned, Katherine Archuleta. She stepped down Friday, one day after revealing the breach was much worse than expected. CNN senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, has more for us this morning.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: OPM Director Katherine Archuleta came to the White House and offered a resignation on Friday morning. President Obama accepted it. The White House says because he believes new leadership is, quote, "badly needed at the agency."
Administration officials say personal data including Social Security numbers, health records and in some cases fingerprints of 21.5 million federal employees and some of the relatives were swept up in this hack of stolen user name and passwords where all the hackers needed to break into the federal system.
The Chinese are the leading suspect at this point, but the White House has yet to publicly accuse Beijing of being responsible and will also stands to reason that the president's personal data was also obtained. The White House will not say for sure.
Here's an exchange I had with the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Do we know if the president's personal data has been -- involved in any way --
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't have information about the president's personal data, but even if I did, I'm not sure I'd share --
ACOSTA: -- just about every federal employee since the year 2000 that would, of course, include the president -- data swept up by these hackers.
EARNEST: Yes, I don't have any information about the president's personal data.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Archuleta's resignation came roughly 12 hours after she told reporters on a conference call that she wanted to stay at OPM to oversee the upgrading of federal data systems. Instead she'll replaced by Beth Covert, a top official at OMD and Covert starts next week. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
PAUL: Here's a look at other stories making headlines right now. A car bomb exploded outside the Italian consulate in Egypt this morning killing at least one person, injuring seven and significantly damaging the building. Egypt has seen escalating attacks by Islamic militants, but no group thus far has claimed responsibility for this deadly blast.
BLACKWELL: But this time not on the east coast, this was in Southern California or at least off the coast.
[08:20:04] A great white shark in this case nearly 6 feet long bumped a Huntington Beach surfer yesterday. It did not attack. Still too close, right? The incident did prompt lifeguards to temporarily keep people out of the water as a precaution.
PAUL: Outrage over a Michigan doctor who, of course, got rich by treating hundreds of patients with cancer medications even though some of them didn't even have the disease.
BLACKWELL: Plus, the FBI admits that Dylann Roof, the shooter in that Charleston massacre, should not have been allowed to purchase a gun that was tragically used to kill nine people in South Carolina. We'll look at how the system failed here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to have you here on NEW DAY. Let's start in Detroit, there are some people there who are angry, outraged, understandably, because there is a doctor in that area who was sentenced for giving cancer treatment drugs to more than 500 patients who did not need them. Some of them didn't even have cancer.
The doctor is Farid Fattah. He was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison and that's part of the reason for the outrage because many of the victims and their families say that is just is not enough. It was a really emotional ending to a long court saga.
[08:29:50] Jonathan Carlson is from our CNN affiliate, WXYZ, was there. Watch.
JONATHAN CARLSON, WXYZ REPORTER: Farid Fattah got 45-years in jail, but caused a lifetime of pain for his victims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so sorry for all you went through.
CARLSON: Tears and hugs come naturally these days for this group.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not all right actually. It's not all right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know. It's not all right. But you have an amazing attitude -- amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank Go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All God.
CARLSON: They are bound by tragic circumstances, each one a victim in some form or fashion of a cancer doctor prosecutors say did the unthinkable.
BARBARA MCQUADE, U.S. ATTORNEY: This, we believe to be the most serious fraud case in the history of the country.
CARLSON: But it was so much more than just fraud to these folks. They lost their health or their loved one to Dr. Farid Fata's care or lack thereof. More than 500 patients were unnecessarily pumped with drugs, prosecutors say. Lives altered or ended.
An emotional week which began with victims sharing their stories of pain, finished with Dr. Fata himself sobbing before the judge begging for leniency. But it didn't seem to matter.
The judge went by the book telling the crimes and the mandated sentences that go with them -- 45 years in jail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 45 years for the lives that he took.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was not enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the victims -- my sister is gone. It just wasn't enough.
CARLSON: Prosecutors wanted what the families wanted, 175 years.
MCQUADE: We believed that nothing short of a life sentence was appropriate in this case because the harm was so egregious.
CARLSON: But for families they concede prison terms will never bring complete closure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't bring any of them back. You can't heal the hurt.
CARLSON: So where do these men and women go from here? Well, they are still trying to figure that out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hopefully, you know, move on somewhat, or try to now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a very long road and a very hard journey for all of us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARLSON: Fata will next have a restitution hearing. He's on the hook for $17 million in fraud. He also has the right to appeal today's sentence.
PAUL: Thank you -- Jonathan. Jonathan Carlson there with WXYZ for the report.
Let's bring in Joey Jackson, criminal defense attorney and HLN legal analyst. Joey we heard those emotional moments from family members. Talk to me about the psychological impact of hearing 45 years say versus 175 years even if 45 years may essentially be a death sentence.
JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning -- Christi. I mean, you know, ultimately when you are a victim of this and families -- just think about this for one second. And you know, you and I having a discussion about it.
Think about someone you love and care about -- a mother, a brother, a sister, a father -- being misdiagnosed. And it is not something that is based upon a doctor's negligence. That is that they could have known or should have known. It's based upon a doctor's intent and doing it for the purpose of using you to make money. And now you have a victim impact statement, several victim impact statements, and they are talking to the judge about how this has just destroyed their family. They never had cancer but because you wanted to make money you gave them cancer, at least psychologically, so it's mind-numbing.
Now certainly 175 years is, of course a death sentence -- people don't live that long, nearly that long. But I think in this case Christi, 45 years could be deemed as a death sentence. Why, he's 50 years old, his attorney was attempting to get leniency by talking about the state of his health, as if that would matter. And of course, in the federal system you're talking about serving about 85 percent to 87 percent of that sentence. So what -- that's 39 years, 38 years and so he would be next to 90 when he's released.
And so, you know, forgetting about him, it's about the victims and what he took away from them.
PAUL: It is, and speaking of that I understand there is a restitution hearing that has yet to be held. But there's about $17 million that he could be liable for. What is the possibility or the plausibility that the victims will see that money?
JACKSON: Sure I think there's a couple of ways, Christi, that the victims will attempt to go after it. And just backing up for a minute there's a federal whistleblower statute and under that statute, it's called the False Claims Act, you can sue a private individual on behalf of the federal government if you know that your employer is engaging in fraud. And of course, this is what brought the matter to the attention of the federal government and they were able to investigate.
If you look at the indictment, it talks about him doing this, Christi, from 2007 until 2013 when he was ultimately caught. He's been in jail two years, of course. And so with that action that will bring about a significant amount of money because through that action, you are entitled if you're seeing the federal government defrauded, once that money is gotten back from the federal government, you're entitled as a whistleblower to collect it.
I think a fund will also be set up out of that for the families. Of course, there's insurance that can certainly get the money back. And any of his assets will also be frozen and seized. And that will be a source of income, not that that's relevant or that it matters, but that's the only thing Christi that our system civilly to compensate people for wrong and that's money.
[08:35:06] And so will all of it be recovered and will they receive the full value of the life that was so precious to them, no. But there will be money certainly forthcoming to the victims of this inhumane person who is now in jail, I think, for his life.
PAUL: This has resonated with so many people -- people all over, you know, my Twitter feed talking about it. And it just is unbelievable.
Joey Jackson, we so appreciate it -- thank you. JACKSON: It's a pleasure Christi.
BLACKWELL: Hey, we just got some video in. Let's put it up for our viewers. Pope Francis arriving in Asuncion, a children's hospital there making a visit to the patients there. He is beloved. Of course this is a Pope from Latin America, there from South America. And you can see the crowds in each stop here across his tour of the continent. We know that in an hour the Pope will hold a special mass. But this is video just in to CNN, again of Pope Francis -- you see a child there embracing him -- arriving at a children's hospital in Asuncion, Paraguay.
We'll continue to follow the Pope's tour throughout the morning.
Now, let's get back state side where Dylann Roof -- he should not have been able to get a gun, to purchase this gun that was used in the fatal shootings of nine church members in Charleston South Carolina last month. The FBI's system for background checks failed in this case. We'll examine how, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:40:01] PAUL: 39 minutes past the hour.
And developing right now, the FBI is investigating what it says is a heartbreaking mistake. They are trying to determine how clerical oversight at the federal and local level put a gun in the hands of accused shooter Dylann Roof. That gun was allegedly used to kill nine people, as you know.
Want to go to CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty to sort all of this out for us. Good morning -- Sunlen.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Christi. Well, this was a shocking admission and it contradicts what the FBI had previously said in the past that the background check on Dylann Roof was done properly. Now the FBI director revealing now that this bombshell of an error was on their part, a mistake he says and that makes them all sick that it happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: The man who confessed to gunning down nine people inside a South Carolina church should never have been able to buy the .45- caliber gun used in the slaughter. That admission coming from FBI Director James Comey who told reporters his bureau made a mistake during Dylann Roof's background check. A mistake he said quote, "rips all of our hearts out".
According to law enforcement officials, within days after the shooting, agents on the ground knew something was amiss and suspected that Roof's arrest record should have prohibited the gun purchase.
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It just shows how a bureaucratic mistake can cost human life. SERFATY: Director Comey says the FBI examiner during Roof's
background check didn't discover Roof had previously admitted to illegally possessing drugs when he was arrested in late February -- that information would have prevented Roof from the passing the background check.
CALLAN: There's a regulation that says if he was a drug user, he shouldn't have gotten a gun. And there was abundant information for the FBI to have had that information. Had they had it -- no gun sale and possibly no shooting here.
SERFATY: Comey says the FBI examiner failed to make contact with the Columbia, South Carolina Police Department which arrested Roof on the felony drug charge in part because of a clerical error that listed the wrong police department in the online court system.
After three days of waiting for the background checks, the South Carolina gun shop legally used its discretion to sell Roof the gun even though his status was still pending.
Senate judiciary chairman Grassley said in a statement quote, "It's disastrous that this bureaucratic mistake prevented existing laws from working and blocking an illegal gun sale."
But for the family of one Charleston victim, surprise and understanding.
REV. ANTHONY THOMPSON, WIDOWER OF MYRA THOMPSON: I thought, you know, being that it was an FBI check that they were very thorough. So I was surprised that they were not very thorough. And so -- but I know people make mistakes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: And FBI officials met with the families of the victims this week to explain to them in person the mistake and they promised to try to fix the system -- Christi.
PAUL: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you very much.
BLACKWELL: Let's bring in Mary Ellen O'Toole. She's a former senior FBI profiler and also was a special agent with the FBI. So let's start there with your connection obviously to the agency, the once with who you once worked. When you hear the report from Sunlen, what is your reaction of this oversight?
MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, it's a devastating mistake. But I think it's very important in order to -- for people to really understand what happened here, this system is what is called an interconnected system. And the FBI depends on police reports, arrest reports from state, local agencies in order to get current and accurate information so that they can respond to the request should a gun permit be given or not given.
And in this case, there was no conviction but there was a confession. And so that took a lot of drilling to get that kind of information. The FBI would not automatically have that information unless it was an FBI arrest and even then, we may not have all of that immediately.
So when you have an interconnected system -- I'm not making excuses -- I'm saying at this point when you have this kind of a system, you have to look at each part of the system so you know where to report -- where to repair it. It does no good to condemn the entire system by saying this horrible mistake was made.
Let's look at where the communications broke down. And I would really hate to see one person within the FBI bear the brunt of this mistake because these systems are built on a relationship between all law enforcement agencies to get that critical piece of information.
BLACKWELL: Should this continue to be then a person-to-person relationship or should this be automated. I think there are a lot of people who were surprised that it isn't.
O'TOOLE: In a perfect world we would want everything to be automated including those police reports. People have seen police officers standing in the neighborhoods and they're riding their police and we've come a long way to automate all of that. But it is not a perfect world. We don't have all of that information automated. And oftentimes people can write down incorrect information and you scurry to get the correct information by telephone.
[08:45:11] So I don't think in any agency in the world whether you're at an insurance company, a medical agency or law enforcement where everything is absolutely perfect. That's why I'm saying in an interconnected system, let's look at what happened, where it broke down and not condemn the entire system.
BLACKWELL: Mary Ellen, quickly, as a former senior profiler with the FBI, are there elements of one's personality -- are there indicators that maybe some of these gun shop owners should look for to kind of avoid selling if they can a gun to the next Dylann Roof.
O'TOOLE: There are indicators we know that. There are prior warning signs to these kinds of events and whether or not someone who works in a gun shop is going to see these warning behaviors because their interaction may be very. It could be maybe less than half an hour. That would go from -- depend on a case to case situation.
But I do think that at this point if there would be the ability to do some training for people that are on the front lines, that are selling these guns, I think they would love to have some kind of training. And I think the training could be very effective. Not for them to say yes or no clearly, but to give them some kind of education so they felt more comfortable and they would have an option to know where to go if there was some behavior that they learned could be problematic then they could go to -- make this phone call, contact this person.
BLACKWELL: Well, we know there is this 30-day review that's been ordered by the FBI. Maybe we'll learn more about that. AS we continue through the review and hopefully there's some report that they then made public.
Mary Ellen O'Toole -- thank you so much. We'll be right back. O'TOOLE: You're welcome.
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[08:50:31] PAUL: Breaking news out of Greece this hour. At this moment Eurozone leaders are arriving in Brussels to decide Greece's economic fate. Now this after the Greek parliament voted to approve reforms aiming to end the country's financial crisis. The new proposal would result in spending cuts and increased taxes but some of those reforms are the very reforms voters rejected in a referendum just last Sunday.
CNN's business correspondent, Richard Quest is all over this. So what are you hearing this morning there from Brussels, Richard?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon -- good morning from Brussels. The ministers have just been arriving, the finance ministers. And before them they have the document from the IMF and the European Central Bank. And what they really have to decide is can we do business? Are the Greek proposals the basis for negotiation? And while everybody that we have heard walking in says yes, it's certainly a great deal better than anything we have seen before.
They are also saying it's not there yet. And today I think the big question is, whether they kick the whole thing out of the window or they do decide to progress. They do decide to have more negotiations.
We have yet to hear from the Germans. We have yet to hear from Wolfgang Schauble who is the German finance committee. They will be the ones giving the main indication but from everything we've heard from those ministers arriving so far, the tone is -- it is like that classic report, good but could do better. Now we just have to find out what better actually is.
PAUL: All right. Richard Quest, we appreciate it so much. Thank you, sir.
BLACKWELL: Well, thousands are lining up in the streets right now in Paraguay. We've got a live picture here for you outside of a children's hospital in Asuncion where Pope Francis is meeting with some of the children and blessing them right now. There will be a mass in a little less than an hour or a little more than that, rather. We're going to bring you live coverage of that.
Also, today Serena Williams has a chance to do something that no other woman in tennis has done before. We'll have a live report from Wimbledon, next.
PAUL: Well, this week's culinary journey visits the kitchen of Italy's numbers one restaurant to meet it's creative force. That's 3- Michelin Star chef who combined inspiration from contemporary art with Italy's rich heritage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our journey starts in the heart of Italy (INAUDIBLE) valley in Lydia Romania (ph). Amid the red topped rooftops and cobbled streets of medieval Moderna. In this quiet side street an unremarkable doorway provides the entrance to one of the world acclaimed -- Osteria Francescana.
And this is the creative force, the triple Michelin star chef, Massimo Bottura.
MASSIMO BOTTURA, CHEF: Every single thing that comes out from Osteria, I have to touch it, taste it, brew, develop. Mine is the last world on everything and approve.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bottura (INAUDIBLE) very DNA is rooted in the ingredients of this region.
My muscles are made by Parmigiano-Reggiano (ph). My vein there's balsamic vinegar. Italian food is all based on amazing ingredients. And the simplicity is so difficult to make.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: You can see more of these stories at CNN.com/journey. And we'll be right back.
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[08:57:54] BLACKWELL: Let's talk tennis. This morning, Serena Williams could be on the verge of making court history again. Everybody's watching Wimbledon Center Court to see if the number one seed can win her sixth title in a row.
PAUL: Because if Serena wins, she'd be the first woman to hold all four major titles in a row, twice.
CNN Sports' Christina MacFarlane live in London for us. What are you seeing there?
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN SPORTS: Well, I'll tell you what, it's a big day here at Wimbledon. The big bands are playing the strawberries and cream are flowing 15,000 people are packed on the center court behind me, Christi, because this is going to be a huge night.
Serena Williams' 24th grand slam final. And as you mentioned there's so much at stake for her today as she's going for the second time in her career for that (INAUDIBLE) that means holding all four consecutive grand slams at one time. But also when he would keep her on track for a historic calendar grand slam. She's won the French open, the Australian Open,
If she wins Wimbledon, she only needs the U.S.A. (INAUDIBLE) time to complete the set. It's something that so rare in men and women's tennis. That hasn't been achieved since 1988 when Steffi Graf managed defeat back then. And I'll tell you what-- Serena has had a fantastic form -- she defeated her sister Venus Williams. She put out the force Maria Sharapova on her way to the final. And she is a master of grand slam finals. She's won 20 and lost only four. So the young Spaniard who faces her today. Garbine Muguruza is going to need to bring her A-Game if she's to stand a chance.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about that A-Game. She has been successful against Serena Williams in the past. Does she have a chance today?
MACFARLANE: Victor, the bottom line is she does stand a chance and that's why Serena is talking this very seriously indeed today because Garbine Muguruza has defeated her in a grand slam before. She put her out at the French Open in the second round just year. And she's had (INAUDIBLE) at the Australian earlier this year. She's a strong player. She has a big baseline, a big serve and a game very much like Serena herself and she has nothing to lose here today. So it's going to be a brilliant thing to see if she can hold.
[09:00:04] BLACKWELL: Thanks Christina.
PAUL: Christina McFarlane, thank you so much we appreciate.
BLACKWELL: "SMERCONISH" starts right now.