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New Day Saturday

U.S. Navy: Seven Sailors Missing After Destroyer Collision Off Japan; Coast Guard: Five Passengers Medevacked After Ferry Accident; CNN: Tensions Rising At Justice Department Over Russia Probe; Deputy AG May Recuse Himself From Russia Probe; Trump Hires High Profile Lawyer For Russia Legal Team; Gingrich: "President Cannot Obstruct Justice"; Cosby Jury Resumes Today, No Verdict After Five Days. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 17, 2017 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump saying publicly for the first time today that he is under investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's again an example of the president taking no responsibility for anything he does.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president is adding more fire power under his legal team.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump has hired another high profile lawyer to defend him in the Russia investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is very, very serious. An obstruction of justice charge is very serious. He just can't contain himself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States cannot obstruct justice. If he wants to fire the FBI director, (inaudible) is fire him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to the point where even the president's own lawyer has to hire a lawyer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody has unimpeachable credentials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a president who has engaged in questionable behavior over the last several months.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he's really not guilty then he will be happy to be exonerated by somebody who is out to find the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RENE MARSH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Rene Marsh in for Christi Paul. Thanks so much for joining us. VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good Saturday morning to you. We'll get the politics in just a moment.

We will start with the developing story off the coast of Japan where seven U.S. sailors are missing and another three U.S. service men are now all in stable condition after the "USS Fitzgerald," a Navy destroyer collided with a merchant ship.

Now the destroyer had left the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka for routine operations when the incident happened. This was at about 2:30 a.m. local time.

MARSH: The Fitzgerald is now back at the port of Yokosuka after suffering damage that resulted in some flooding. That flooding has now stabilized. We go now to Tokyo where Kaori Enoji has the very latest on this story -- Kaori.

KAORI ENOJI, JOURNALIST: Thanks. It's been 15, 16 hours since this incident occurred off the coast of Japan involving the "USS Fitzgerald" and a container ship. The "USS Fitzgerald" has been towed back into its home port of Yokosuka about two hours ago.

The U.S. Navy is saying a lot of damage occurred on the starboard side that would be the right-hand side although the pictures only show you damage to what happened above the waterline, it seems the gravest damage occurred beneath the water line.

So we're talking about areas, according to the U.S. Navy, the berthing area, the machinery area, and also the radio room suffered some significant damage. And they had been taking the water out of that area.

They still don't know how long it will be before they can access these areas. But the U.S. Navy says divers will be going in as soon as possible to determine exactly just what happened in the middle of the night when this destroyer collided with a container vessel.

The search operations for the seven crew members missing from the "USS Fitzgerald" continues. These are involving vessels and helicopters. It's now past 7:00 p.m. local time here in Japan. Night will be falling momentarily. Possibly complicating some search efforts that are underway.

We know that this area where the collision took place last night is a very, very congested area. It basically is the route that many ships use to enter the ports of both Yokohama and Tokyo, which are the two busiest ports in Japan.

The vessel involved, the Philippine vessel involved was making that journey itself across the Pacific coastline here in Japan. The Japanese Coast Guard says some 400 to 500 vessels use this route, this channel, and that there have been a number of incidents in the past involving commercial vessels.

But the big question, I think everyone has right now is how could one of the most advanced destroyers in the U.S. fleet, how could it not have averted such an incident? Did it not see this container ship approaching it, even if it was in the middle of the night?

We still don't have any of the answers to those questions. Of course, a lot of concern about the seven missing people on board, who are on board, 300 to 330 crew members were on board the "USS Fitzgerald" but seven are still missing.

There were also three injured in this incident who were -- all of them were airlifted out of the ship earlier on in the day including the commander, Mr. Bryce Benson, who was also airlifted.

[06:05:07]But at this moment, we're waiting on news on how and when the divers will get access to the "USS Fitzgerald."

MARSH: All right. Thank you very much. Of course, time is ticking as they try to search for those seven missing U.S. sailors. Thank you so much, Kaori Enoji. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, back here at home, the Coast Guard says all passengers are back on shore after a high-speed ferry accident. This was in Massachusetts. Several passengers had to be medevacked after sustaining injuries when the vessel hit a jetty in Hyenas Harbor. About 57 people were on the ferry. Coast Guard official says that rough seas, strong winds were a couple of the factors that hindered initial efforts.

MARSH: Joining me now on the phone is Lt. John Mansalilo (ph). He is the command center chief for the Coast Guard Southeastern New England. Lieutenant, talk to us a little bit about where things stand right now at this point.

LT. JOHN MANSALILO, COAST GUARD, SOUTHEASTERN NEW ENGLAND (via telephone): Good morning. All passengers have been evacuated safely from the ship. Coast Guard crews and local responders responded late last night to the grounding. The first people taken off were the people who were most injured. Taken off via helicopter and taken to medical care.

Rough seas did impede the rescue. The boat was pretty high on the rocks, which made it difficult for crews to get alongside the vessel and also made it dangerous for people to exit the vessel, who was been walking down the rocks just pretty high.

Because of that the Coast Guard continued their air evacuation, 10 additional passengers, a total of 48 passengers were taken by air to the local municipal airport. Remaining passengers taken by sea to the local incident command post.

MARSH: All right, and those passengers who had to be medevacked, do you know anything more as far as their condition at this point?

MANSALILO: I'm sorry, I don't have further information.

MARSH: I know you all are pretty much involved in the rescue effort. That apparently was very tough in rescuing those folks there because of the conditions. Any indication right now preliminary ideas as far as what may have caused this ferry accident? MANSALILO: No. The Coast Guard will investigate exactly as we do in all accidents, but right now we have no word on the cause.

MARSH: All right. Still very early. Glad to hear that those people were able to be rescued. Thank you so much, Lieutenant.

BLACKWELL: President Trump is beefing up his legal team adding a veteran Washington lawyer to his defense amid the expanding Russia investigation. Now on board Attorney John Dowd who once led the investigation into the Pete Rose betting scandal for Major League Baseball.

MARSH: This as CNN learns tensions are rising at the Justice Department over the Russia probe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. He's under new scrutiny and now may be forced to recuse himself from overseeing the probe for his role in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

BLACKWELL: Now for the first time Friday in a statement via Twitter the president acknowledged he's being investigated for Comey's firing and blaming Rosenstein, for what he calls a witch hunt. The question is will the deputy attorney general be the second top official at the Justice Department to recuse himself in the Russia investigation. Our Evan Perez has more.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: All indications are that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could soon become a witness in the ongoing investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. Rosenstein is the highest ranking Justice Department official overseeing the Russian probe.

He also wrote the memo used by President Trump to fire FBI Director James Comey. Comey's firing is expected to soon be part of the widening investigation into whether the president interfered with or tried to obstruct the Russia investigation.

If that happens, and Rosenstein becomes a witness in this investigation, he may have to recuse himself from the probe now being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Now these developments come as tensions are building inside the Justice Department over Rosenstein's handling of the Russia investigation. It all comes back to Rosenstein's decision to hire Mueller to run the investigation.

That move took Rosenstein's boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions by surprise and has caused friction between the White House and the Justice Department. Sessions is already recused from this investigation.

Officials from the president on down blame Rosenstein's decision for making the controversy over Russia to only get worse. We'll learn soon whether Mueller's investigation forces Rosenstein to step aside. Back to you.

[06:10:02]BLACKWELL: Evan, thank you very much. Let's bring in now CNN political commentator, Errol Louis, White correspondent for the "Washington Examiner," Sarah Westwood, and CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson. Good morning to all of you.

So Joey, let me start with you. The question about Rod Rosenstein, he sent this standard with the interview with the AP earlier this month, he said that "If anything I did winds up being relevant to Mueller's investigation, I will recuse."

I mean, he wrote the letter on which the White House initially said that the president based his decision to fire Comey. Is this a question of when and not if now?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It absolutely is, Victor. You know, this is an investigation certainly that you want to have just untarnished integrity. You want to ensure that no matter what the special counsel's findings are that they're respected and that they're respected by both sides of the aisle.

You know the partisanship in Washington. You know the entrenched sides and positions in Washington. As a result of that, I don't even think that, you know, if it becomes relevant, and it is relevant. Clearly he wrote a memo.

That memorandum described the basis for which Comey could be fired, whether that was the basis for which Comey was fired. In fact, we have the president saying it wasn't and he would have fired him anyway.

But I think even the appearance of any type of conflict of interest, Victor, rises to the level wherein you will see him step aside there by leaving Ms. Brand, the third in command at the Attorney General's Office really in charge of this investigation. So it's inevitable and it is a question of when he moves aside. That's my view.

BLACKWELL: So Errol, why hasn't that recusal happened?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, events are moving fairly quickly and it's not entirely clear where we are in the investigation. I mean, there's been a lot of great reporting. A lot of well sourced information in the White House they call it a leak. But we actually don't know really where Mueller is, right?

I mean, he's still staffing up. Looking at a number of different things from what all the reporting suggests. It's not clear whether or not this particular memo, this particular question about the firing of James Comey is where the investigation is focused right now.

I mean, keep in mind it was a broad mandate to go out and look at everything having to do with Russian meddling. The firing of James Comey was one piece of it, but there's a lot more to look at.

BLACKWELL: Sarah, speaking of firing, the latest is from Roger Stone, a friend and adviser of President Trump, suggesting that he should fire Mueller and Rosenstein. I mean, you're the White House correspondent on the panel. How real is that conversation in the White House? SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": President Trump is certainly getting that advice from outside advisers. It's not just people who are more on the fringe like Roger Stone. We're hearing it from former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. Someone who is very close to President Trump during the campaign.

He's being pushed by allies to consider removing Mueller and now Rod Rosenstein. That's a remarkable shift from the tone President Trump struck when Mueller was first named special counsel. We saw him continue to attack Democrats, continue to attack the leakers who he saw as the real enemy, so to speak, but he was not going after his investigators.

He was careful to walk that line. We saw it get blurred this week with him tweeting about Rod Rosenstein, essentially confirming that potentially an investigation into obstruction was continuing under Rosenstein's watch.

So now we're seeing him move more in the direction of potentially putting himself in a position to remove those officials down the line because he'll have a record of criticizing their work.

BLACKWELL: The president released in a statement via Twitter essentially acknowledging that he's being investigated for potential obstruction of justice, Joey. I want you to listen to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was out promoting his new book about Donald Trump on the idea that the president could obstruct justice. Here's what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Technically, the president of the United States cannot obstruct justice. The president of the United States is the chief executive officer of the United States. If he wants to fire the FBI director, all he has to do is fire him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, I hand that to you, Joey Jackson. The president cannot obstruct justice.

JACKSON: Victor, I say this in the most objective way that I can, that's one of the most irresponsible statements that I've ever seen made coming out of Washington. Let me give you my basis for that.

Basis number one, if we'll go back to 1974, there were three articles of impeachment against Nixon. Article One, obstruction of justice. Twenty four years later, 1998, another president, Bill Clinton, he was in the White House.

We had a certain congressman, we just heard from him, Newt Gingrich, guess what, Article Three of the impeachment proceedings, obstruction of justice, and by the way, Newt Gingrich voted for that.

So I'm not sure how you can be a sitting congressman and speaker of the House voting for articles of impeachment which passed through, as we know, Bill Clinton acquitted in the Senate, but now all of a sudden that you voted articles of obstruction of justice against the president, you can obstruct justice.

[06:15:05]Let me say one other thing, Victor. Many have said, and I disagree from a legal perspective that the president can fire a special prosecutor. According to the Code of Federal Regulations that I've reviewed, he has no such authority.

In fact, he would have to order, that is President Trump, the attorney general to do so. The attorney general has recused himself. So therefore we may see another recusal in Rod Rosenstein, so he would be ordering Ms. Brand, assuming getting ahead of myself, she takes over. So what about if she resigns? So this could get rather messy rather quickly as we move forward.

BLACKWELL: Rosenstein has said that he would only fire if there is cause. You mentioned Newt Gingrich in the '90s. Let's play for you what Newt Gingrich said during that period and using a phrase we just heard him use a couple of seconds ago.

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GINGRICH: What you have lived through for two and a half long years is the most systematic, deliberate, obstruction of justice cover up and effort to avoid the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Speaking of the Clintons there. So President Clinton could obstruct justice, Sarah, but President Trump cannot.

WESTWOOD: Right. I mean, obviously that is inconsistent from Newt Gingrich. He's not in a position of power now, but he is someone who has President Trump's ear. That's why those comments are concerning to a lot of Republicans, because it's obviously bad advice to give the president at a time when he's being investigated for removing another law enforcement official looking into his investigation.

To attempt to remove a second law enforcement official looking into events that he says did not take place, looking into a situation where he claims he's innocent, removing not one but two law enforcement officials investigating those events creates a problem unto itself no matter what the underlying crime is.

BLACKWELL: And Errol quickly, Jeff Zeleny's reporting that these tweets that we saw yesterday morning about being investigated from the president, that these surprised the White House staff, surprised his legal staff, but these were strategic on the part of the president. What's the strategy from the president?

LOUIS: I must tell you, I do not subscribe to this theory that he's acting in some deep strategic way playing four dimensional play while the rest of us watch. The president is impulsive, frightened by this investigation, making his wishes known, even though I think he's walking himself into a lot of political and legal corners. BLACKWELL: All right. Errol Louis, Sarah Westwood, Joey Jackson, thanks so much. We'll continue the conversation throughout the morning.

MARSH: Also in Washington this week, this morning Congressman Steve Scalise is still in critical condition after this week's shooting ambush in Virginia. But doctors say they are encouraged by the progress the majority whip has made since the attack. They say the congressman was in quote, "imminent risk of death" when he arrived at the hospital on Wednesday. He's now stabilized.

Meantime, new details on the state of the mind of the shooter, James Hodgkinson. A law enforcement source confirmed to CNN that a list of names, including some Republican members of Congress, was found on the shooter. None of the victims in the attack were on that list. The source says that it is not clear it was an assassination list.

BLACKWELL: All right, day six and still no verdict in the Bill Cosby trial. The comedian speaks to supporters there. You will hear from him and that message he had as we now go into a weekend of deliberations.

MARSH: And thousands march in the streets after an officer is acquitted in the shooting death of Philando Castile, a man seen bloodied and dying as his girlfriend broadcast the ordeal live on Facebook.

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[06:23:05]

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BILL COSBY, ACTOR/COMEDIAN: I want to thank the jury for their long days and their honest work individually. I also want to thank the supporters who have been here and, please, to the supporters, stay calm. Do not argue with people. Just keep up the great support. Thank you all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, that was Bill Cosby thanking supporters who started gathering outside the courthouse in Pennsylvania where a jury is still deliberating in his case. The jurors will start day six of deliberations a few hours from now. They've asked 12 questions so far, but no signs of a verdict. CNN's Jean Casarez recaps what happened on Friday.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Rene, the jury has now been deliberating for 52 and a half hours, and in just a few hours they'll be back at the courthouse to continue. The defense at this point has made seven motions for mistrial. Six of them had been during deliberations based on the length of the days, 12-hour days, the length of deliberations, and the numerous readback of testimony.

Brian (inaudible) said in court that the trial itself only took 36 hours, and now deliberations are taking much longer than that. The prosecution is not joining in these motions for mistrial. The judge says deliberations will continue.

On Friday the jury asked for numerous read backs. Notable the testimony from Bill Cosby's civil deposition on Quaaludes, giving Quaaludes to young women he wanted to have sex with and also the definition of reasonable doubt.

At one point the judge under oath actually questioned Bill Cosby outside the presence of the jury saying your attorney is asking for numerous mistrial motions, is it your opinion that you agree with that and you consent to that?

[06:25:06]Because if at some point I declare a mistrial, The Commonwealth can retry you on these very same charges and you cannot claim double jeopardy -- Victor, Rene.

MARSH: Well, it's 50 plus hours of deliberations, how much longer will this go on? Let's bring in Joey Jackson, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney. Joey, first the jury said that they were deadlocked. Now they can't seem to stop deliberating. Why is this going on so long?

JACKSON: Good morning, Rene. You know, listen, these are tough questions. Remember this case, it's not like there's a smoking gun no forensic evidence. We're looking at events that occurred years ago, right back in 2003.

And so when you have that, you essentially set up a situation where she said, Andrea Constand, that this was not consensual, and he took advantage of me as his position as my mentor. He said that we have a romantic relationship and this was part and partial to what we had done before, who you are going to believe?

And so in essence, Rene, what you have is the jury and we see this through their readback they are trying to assess credibility. Is it really what Andrea Constand said? Let's find out. Let's re-examine the statement she gave initially in Canada when she told her story.

Let's examine that versus later statements that she gave to police versus what she said on the witness stand, and let's see what her mother said about it. In addition to that, Rene, you have them saying what did Bill Cosby say initially when he was interviewed by police?

And in addition to that what did he say in his deposition? So you set up an instance where they're weighing these both sides. You know, you have really two narratives in there. Those two narratives sound compelling.

Bill Cosby's narrative, he did testify, although he didn't testify because his statement was read into the record from his deposition, his statement to the police was read into the record so there's testimony from him, and they're really trying to sort it out.

And finally, Rene, on the question, think about what Jean Casarez said, they asked for the definition of reasonable doubt. What is reasonable doubt? Is it doubt beyond all certainty? Mathematical doubt at all? What is it? We need to know so that we can decide is it she or is it he and we can make a decision.

MARSH: All right, Joey Jackson, good analysis. Thanks so much for joining us.

JACKSON: Thank you, Rene.

BLACKWELL: Huge protests after an officer is acquitted in the shooting death of Philando Castile. This is coming after the shooting was shown live on Facebook. But the peaceful demonstration was not without arrests. We'll tell you more about what happened there.

MARSH: Plus from grief to fury, London residents taking to the streets demanding justice for the victims of that tower fire. Those developments are coming up.

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[06:32:12] RENE MARSH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Rene Marsh in for Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good Saturday to you.

President Trump is on the defense, beefing up his legal team with high-profile lawyers to expand rather on the expanding Russian investigation.

MARSH: This after the president openly acknowledged on Twitter he's being investigated for the firing of FBI director James Comey and placing the blame squarely on his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein.

The statement is now putting new scrutiny on Rosenstein and creating friction within the Justice Department. Lawmakers are questioning whether Rosenstein will be forced to recuse himself over his role in Comey's firing.

BLACKWELL: Also new this morning, Minnesota state police have arrested 18 people protesting the acquittal of a St. Paul police officer in the shooting death of Philando Castile.

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PROTESTERS: No justice, no peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, about 2,000 demonstrators marched peacefully through the city. They chanted, they sang hymns, and denounced, quote, "police terror." Others filed -- filled in, I should say, a roadside memorial with flowers and handwritten signs.

BLACKWELL: And the protests extended late into the night with about 500 people marching, as you see here, on to the interstate. They shut down traffic in both directions.

Authorities say 18 people were arrested because they failed to comply with officers' orders to disperse.

Now the police shooting death of Castile gained, as you know, national attention after the ordeal was live streamed on Facebook by Castile's girlfriend.

MARSH: Right. She and her 4-year-old daughter were still in the car when the shooting happened.

Our Sara Sidner has more on the verdict's emotional impact.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The family of Philando Castile devastated for a second time in a year. This time it was the not guilty verdict on all counts against the police officer that took his life. The first time the day the Police Officer (INAUDIBLE) shot Castile to death while he was in the car with his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter. Pulled over during a traffic stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know my brother. My brother would never ever put Diamond in danger or Dianne in danger because he loved that little girl. And he loved this state. And I'm really just so hurt because y'all took away something so precious from me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The officer just shot him in his arm.

SIDNER: The aftermath of the shooting played out for the world to see when Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, began streaming it on Facebook Live. The jury saw this video. They also saw officer's dashcam video and heard audio of Philando Castile telling Officer Jeronimo Yanez he had a gun.

Castile had a permit to carry, but the defense argued he never mentioned that to the officer, and he reached for his gun when Yanez ordered him to keep his hands visible.

The defense blaming marijuana in Castile's system for poor judgment. Yanez testified he stopped Castile because of his taillight and because he fit the description of a suspect in a four-day-old robbery. Prosecutors, though, argued that Castile was profiled by Yanez. Prosecutors argued Castile was only reaching for his driver's license. His girlfriend says he was trying to undue his seat belt to get his license for the officer. Paramedics testified they found Castile's gun was still in his pocket when they got to his body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My son loved this city and this city killed my son. And a murderer gets away. Are you kidding me right now?

SIDNER: The family attorney known to TV audiences as Judge Blenda Hatchet, represented the Castile family.

JUDGE BLENDA HATCHET, FAMILY ATTORNEY: If Philando can die under these circumstances, let's be clear, each of you could die under these circumstances.

SIDNER: The jury spent as many days deliberating as they did listening to evidence made up of seven men and five women including two people of color, they were deadlocked for five days. Ten voted for acquittal and two for a conviction because they all came together to acquit the officer.

Sara Sidner, CNN, St. Paul, Minneapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Sara Sidner, thank you.

And still to come, a city reeling over the lack of answers following that London tower disaster. The community that has turned their grief into action. A live report from London is coming up next.

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[06:40:51] BLACKWELL: Welcome back. At least four people are dead this morning after two simultaneous terror attacks in Israel. And there are conflicting reports about who may be behind those attacks.

In two separate incidents three Palestinians armed with semiautomatic weapons and knives attacked a group of police officers. This is in Jerusalem's Old City. All three were killed by security forces there at the scene.

MARSH: And the Israeli Army says that the attack was perpetrated by a local cell that doesn't belong to any terror organization. Well, that contradicts a claim by ISIS that for the first time it carried out an attack in Israel as well as a statement by the Palestinian militant group Hamas which dismissed ISIS' claims saying that the attack was carried out by local groups.

Well, London is still grieving in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster that left at least 30 people dead and dozens more missing. Now that community is speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTERS: No justice. No peace no justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Demonstrators there on the streets protesting, demanding justice for the victims and accountability from government officials.

CNN correspondent Oren Lieberman is following these developments. He's joining us from London.

Tell us what's happening there now. I see the memorial behind you, Oren. Tell us more about what's happening.

OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One of many memorials in this area so close to where that fire started that is growing. And I'll give you a look here right behind me. People are lighting candles, leaving messages as well as placing flowers. Some of these messages read, "God will take care of you. Peace, love, and joy. I pray for justice." And there are so many of these as well as pictures of the missing going up in this area.

Nearby at St. Pius X Catholic Church there is a prayer service for the victims as hundreds of people here have come together in different sites. And yet, if it's calm, if it's relatively peaceful at the moment, that doesn't change the fact that there's still a tremendous amount of anger here from the lack of answers now entering day four since the fire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIEBERMAN (voice-over): Anger boils over as the city grieves. Residents, friends and family protesting over how they say their concerns were ignored, over how they say they're being treated after this tragedy.

Near Grenfell Tower the feeling is similar.

STEIN, NORTH KENSINGTON RESIDENT: This is classic profit over people.

LIEBERMAN: Pictures of the missing, each one an unanswered question. The lack of answers fueling the frustration.

AMANI, NORTH KENSINGTON RESIDENT: People on the top floor, elderly, had no chance, not 1 percent chance of surviving.

STEIN: That's to make you look pretty, the surrounding --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just make it look nice.

STEIN: Surrounding people in areas (INAUDIBLE). Let's not focus on the human life inside the building.

LIEBERMAN: The fire has become far bigger than one community. It's resonated around the city. Echoes of grief and anger growing louder.

MINA AGYETONG, NORTH KENSINGTON RESIDENT: Why wasn't enough done to prevent this? You know, gentrification, you know, making this building look pretty so that all the other sort of, you know, new builds, and those that invest in the capitol can feel happier but at the cost of human life. It's unacceptable. And someone needs to be held accountable.

LIEBERMAN (on camera): This is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in London, which is a short distance away from multimillion-dollar homes and Porsches. Residents of the Grenfell Tower a short distance behind me say they live in a different world, ignored, invisible they say to the officials who are supposed to represent them. They say that fire would never have happened right here.

JOE DELANEY, NORTH KENSINGTON RESIDENT: I'd love to know how much of that 10 million actually went on making the outside look nice. LIEBERMAN (voice-over): Joe Delaney lives next to Grenfell Tower, he

watched from the very beginning. In many ways he speaks for the community.

DELANEY: I tell you what, it may have been an eyesore but it certainly would have not killed anyone.

LIEBERMAN: There is a tremendous amount of gratitude here. But it is for the volunteers who packed supply vans with donations. And for the firefighters.

[06:45:04] The government has ordered a public inquiry and a criminal investigation has been launched. Still the anger evident. Residents are shouting for accountability.

PROTESTER: We want justice, we want justice.

LIEBERMAN: Those cries growing louder with each passing hour.

Oren Lieberman, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIEBERMAN: Today is also the Queen of England's official birthday celebration. She has realized that today is certainly not a day of celebration, especially in London. She visited victims of this fire. She also visited victims of the Manchester and London terror attacks recently. And part of her statement reflects that. She said, "Put to the test the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity. United in our sadness. We are equally determined, without fear or favor, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss."

That is part of the determination to help those in need. Here there are many -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Absolutely. Oren Lieberman for us there in London. Thanks so much.

MARSH: And also in London the Queen's birthday taking on a different tone as she celebrates her 91st birthday today. It's part of the Annual Trouping of Color event. You're looking at new video there. An event where the Queen gets a chance to inspects soldiers from her personal troupes.

After the parade she will prepare on the Buckingham Palace balcony to greet crowds with the royal family. And there will also be a Royal Air Force show.

BLACKWELL: All right. Back here in the U.S., the president confirming he is under investigation. Also his top aides lawyering up.

This is appearing to be a really bad week, maybe the worst week yet for the Trump administration as a probe into Russia's interference into the 2016 election moves ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:50] MARSH: Well, the White House is in crisis. The president saying in a tweet that he is under investigation. His top aides lawyering up. Even Trump's own attorney is seeking outside counsel.

This as tensions rise in the Justice Department. I spoke with CNN Politics reporter and editor-at-large, Chris Cillizza, about the worst week yet for Trump and the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Sometimes this is hard to pick who had the worst week in Washington and sometimes it's this week. And this is a week in which it was not at all difficult.

Look, Donald Trump, we found out this week, is being investigated for obstruction of justice in relation to the Russian investigation. Broadly speaking, and we believe the firing of former FBI Director James Comey in particular.

We know this because the "Washington Post" reported it during the week. And then on Friday Donald Trump started to tweet with, "I am being investigated." So Donald Trump again, and we've seen this over and over through about the first 150 days of his presidency, his own worst enemy.

MARSH: Right. And important to point out on Thursday he actually tweeted that the "Washington Post" story was phony. And then fast forward to one day later when he seemed to confirm that he was, indeed -- he is, indeed, being investigated. And then on top of that, Chris, it sounds like he's going after his own deputy attorney general. What gives with that?

CILLIZZA: It certainly does. All of this, Rene, ties into something that every Republican I talk to in Washington wishes Donald Trump wouldn't do or would do a lot less, and that is tweet. We saw him this week tweet about Hillary Clinton, asking why the Justice Department wasn't investigating her. Simple answer is you're the president, she's not.

And yes, as you mentioned a tweet on Friday in which he said the guy who said I should fire Comey is now investigating me for firing Comey. Obviously a reference to Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, though I would note Rod Rosenstein is not technically leading the investigation of all this. That's Bob Mueller, the special counsel that Rod Rosenstein appointed.

But when Donald Trump tweets, he clearly thinks it has a positive effect. I would suggest, particularly as it relates to this week and this criminal case and his political case around it, it does not help him. And I think it hurts him.

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BLACKWELL: The most decorated Olympian of all time will take on a new opponent. Andy Scholes is here.

What is this about?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, we all know Michael Phelps is fast, but can he outswim a shark? Details of that race coming up in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

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[06:57:50] BLACKWELL: There is a four-way tie now at the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard, but who is not there, that's getting a lot of attention.

MARSH: Yes. Andy Scholes is here with this morning's "Bleacher Report" to fill us all in.

SCHOLES: Yes, good morning, guys. You know, this is the first golf major since 1994 without either Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods. And most of the stars that were there this weekend, they packed their bags and left yesterday. For the first time since the world golf rankings began in 1986, the first, second and third ranked golfers all missed the cut in the major. That's the defending champ Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day. All gone this weekend.

In fact eight of the top 12 players in the world won't be around for the rest of the tournament. The field of course now wide open. And the last six majors actually have all been won by first-time winners. Could see that again this weekend.

All right. The world's highest paid and most popular athlete not a happy camper right now. According to multiple reports, Cristiano Ronaldo does not want to play for Real Madrid anymore. Ronald is reportedly upset about accusations to tax evasion this week. Spanish prosecutors charged him with failing to pay more than $16 million in taxes. Ronaldo, though, has earned $93 million over the last year and he did sign recently a new five-year contract in November.

All right. We had a delay in the middle of the first inning of last night's Cubs-Pirates game due to fashion. Cubs starter Eddie Butler was wearing a shirt with long white sleeves under his throwback jersey. Well, you know, white ball coming off white sleeves, kind of distracting for the batters. So umpire said it had to go. No time to go back the dugout and change. So the trainers just came out with scissors, cut those sleeves right off on the mound. Chicago would go on to win that game 9-5.

All right, finally, 23-time Olympic gold medalist, Michael Phelps apparently looking for a new challenge since he's beaten every human possible. He's planning to race a great white shark. This is going to be part of "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel next month. Now we don't know all the details yet, but this sounds pretty cool. Phelps apparently already scouting the competition. He posted this picture on Instagram of him cage-diving with some great white sharks.

And just for some information, some background, guys. Researchers say sharks swim about five miles per hour, but can reach up to 25 miles per hour. And at his prime, you know, Phelps was racing at about six miles per hour.

This is interesting. I want to see this happen.

MARSH: Yes. Who do you have your money on?

SCHOLES: I'll go with the shark every time.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Go with the shark.

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BLACKWELL: All right. Thank you, Andy.

MARSH: Thanks, Andy.