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CNN NEWSROOM

Gorilla Shot and Killed to Save a 4-Year-Old boy; South Carolina Submerged in Water; The Rolling Thunder Motor Cycle Rally Under Way this Memorial Day Weekend; Donald Trump Will Release the Update on the $6 Million for Veterans; Trump At Rolling Thunder Run: We Need To Rebuild Military; Sanders: Primary Process Not "Rigged" Just "Dumb"; Libertarian Party Picks Presidential Nominee; U.S. Bridges: Broken And Need Major Repairs. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired May 29, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:11] SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, growing outrage after a gorilla is shot and kill in order to save a 4-year-old boy who slipped in to a zoo enclosure. 911 tapes capturing the voices of horrified onlookers as the 400 pound animal carried the child for ten minutes.

Plus, parts of Texas now under water, at least four deaths and mandatory evacuations now in effect. Search and rescue teams also looking for a young child who has been swept away.

And Donald Trump, along with thousands of motorcyclists, roll into Washington for the ride for freedom. The Republican presidential candidate speaks this hour on veterans, prisoners of war and more.

That's all ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

Hello. And thanks for joining me. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Fredricka Whitfield if off today. We begin at the Cincinnati zoo which reopened today to scores of people after a gorilla was shot and killed in order to save a young boy who slipped into the animal's enclosure. That exhibit still closed today.

CNN's Rachel Crane is explaining how all of it unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A day of panic and desperation at the Cincinnati zoo. A 4-year-old boy slips into the zoo's gorilla habitat and over a moat wall. Suddenly, (INAUDIBLE), a 17-year-old 400-pound gorilla approaches the boy. His mother watches in horror at what happens next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom is right here.

CRANE: The young boy screams. The urgent calls to 911 can be hold on this bystander video. The family tries desperately to keep him calm as (INAUDIBLE) takes him out of sight. (INAUDIBLE) drags the boy around the moat and up a ladder for a total of ten minutes. As the zoo's dangerous animal response team anxiously decides what to do next. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The little boy himself had already been talking

about wanting to go in, go in, get in the water. And his mother is like no you're not, no, you're not. I don't know if the screaming did it or too many people hanging on the edge if he thought we were coming in, but then he pulled the bay down further away from the big group.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine 32. Gorilla has the child. And it's bragging him around the pen.

CRANE: Officials considered the incident so threatening deciding (INAUDIBLE) must be taken down immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason that tranquilizing was not chosen is in an agitated situation which the male was, it may take quite a while for tranquilizer to take effect. But certainly at the instant he hit, he would he a dramatic response. The child wasn't under attack, but a lot of things could happen under that situation. So he certainly was at risk.

CRANE: They say their only option, a rifle. (INAUDIBLE) was shot and killed. The child was taken to Cincinnati's children's hospital with nonlife threatening injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a sad day all the way around. The right choice was made. It was a difficult choice.

CRANE: (INAUDIBLE) was a western low land gorilla, a critically endangered species. The zoo had hoped he would eventually father other gorillas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love this zoo. It's very friendly, everything is beautiful here. But when you see something like that and then you have the disappointment because what do you say to your grandchildren.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CRANE: Now Suzanne, a witness tells our affiliate that they actually heard the boy say to his mother that he wanted to get inside the enclosure. The mother telling him no you aren't. No, you can't. Now, zoo officials say that they have been open for 38 years, nothing like this has ever happened before. Now the zoo is open, but the gorilla exhibit is currently closed. Unclear when it will reopen -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Rachel, thank you so much.

Joining me now to discuss what happened, Ron Magill. He is the communications director and curator at the Miami metro zoo which was the zoo that this gorilla technically belonged to.

And thank you very much for joining us. First of all, I want to talk about this, that you know, social media just blew up about this it and a lot of people very upset and angry, of course very concerned about the boy. Glad that the boy is OK obviously. But wonder why it was that this gorilla was killed. Was there a need to actually shoot and kill the gorilla? Were there other options that could have actually saved this animal like a tranquilizer gun or something else that would have stunned the animal and have let go and rescued the boy?

[14:05:04] RON MAGILL, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR/CURATOR, MIAMI METRO ZOO: You know, people passionate with their low clan. And I understand that because nobody feels worse about this than the folks at the Cincinnati zoo. But they absolutely made the right decision.

You talk about an animal who is 400-pound, incredibly strong. In have seen gorillas take coconuts with their bare hands and break them. Though this gorilla may not have been intending to hurt the child, was fighting, just dragging the child around, what would happen is he is dragging the child and all of the sudden the child's head hits a rock or hit a piece of concrete and does some type of god-forbid fatal injury. We wouldn't be talking about this right now. We would be talking about why didn't they stop that gorilla from doing it the very timely, the chance, the first chance they had. That's the bottom line here.

A tranquilizer dart is just going to agitate the gorilla. They have its called displaced aggression. An animal gets hurt, and first thing it takes out is whatever is next to it. That little boy, it could hit by the dart, the gorilla is going to react. It could do a horrific thing to that child at that point.

The bottom line is that once that little boy was in the hands of that gorilla, unfortunately, that's a death sentence for the gorilla because there is no way to ensure what that gorilla is going to do next. You have to take every second counts at that moment. It would take a split second for that gorilla to do something. Intentionally or not, the massive strength of this animal, he doesn't understand his strength.

Gorillas are called gentle giants. But that being said, he doesn't understand his strength with a 4-year-old little boy. Any type of injury could have been a fatal injury. Not intentionally as it may have been, but it still would have been horrific.

MALVEAUX: I have to say, watching that as a parent and seeing the gorilla and the child being dragged through the water was absolutely terrifying to see that because you would have no idea of no what was actually coming next.

There are some examples back in 1996, there was a famous case of a female gorilla at the Brookfield, Illinois zoo that made headlines who pick up and cradled a 3-year-old boy, you see there who fell nearly 20 feet into that enclosure, carried the boy to safety. That gorilla continues to live at the zoo. And the boy, he suffered from broken bones and cuts and bruises. And what we heard is that witnesses, it was actually witnesses that saw the gorilla yesterday seemed to hold the child in a protective way, but got alarmed because the screaming of the onlookers. Is that how you see it?

MAGILL: I see it the same way, yes. I think that the gorilla was alarmed. I think he was frightened. It was a panic situation. This is no fault of the gorilla. This was a tragic situation all the way around. But the bottom line is it would have taken a split second. Male gorillas and female gorillas are two totally different animals. Understand a female maybe half the size of a male. Has more of a maternal instinct. The male tends to be more of a protector. A male tends to more of a defender. This male had not been a father yet. There was no way to predict what this male was going to do.

The bottom line is this, there is no single animal life that is more important than a human life. And to do so, you have to understand the human life has to be protected at all costs. No matter what the risk is. No matter how minute people think it is, God forbid had something happened to that child, that that gorilla had just plum him one way or another, crushed his skull, what would we be talking about today? We would be talking about how could they not have taken take gorilla out? It is a horrific situation.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. And I think you're right about that. I mean, the zoo has responsibilities to really protect the animals and also to protect and make sure that people can't have access to the animals. When you take a look at the situation in Cincinnati, and you work at a zoo, do you see that there are ways that this zoo could have better protected this animal and this little boy? Because he was able, he was small enough to get through, to squeeze through that little fence, that gate, and then fall into that moat.

MAGILL: You know, hindsight is 20/20 here. I have not seen the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati zoo for a long time. I can't really comment on it. But the bottom line is I guarantee you that same manner that these incredible staff over there are going to reevaluating this and try to do everything they can to ensure it doesn't happen again in the future.

It is very, very hard to ensure against human error. And I think that they are going to reevaluating all of that. It doesn't take away from the tragedy that's happened. But hopefully we can all learn something from it.

MALVEAUX: All right. Well, Ron Magill, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And obviously, it is really a delicate balancing act when you're talking about trying to protect and preserve these endangered species who are so close to human beings and also, of course weighing that against the needs to protect people who are there who are trying to appreciate that. So Ron, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

We are also tracking severe weather across the country today. Parts of the east coast on high alert. This is after a tropical depression makes landfall causing heavy rain and flooding. You are looking at the -- these are images now in South Carolina, just submerged in water. It is incredible what folks are going through. This is to the west.

Dramatic search effort in Kansas, this is for an 11-year-old boy. He was swept away in rushing floodwaters.

And in Texas here, severe flooding already taking at least four lives while three are still missing including a 10-year-old boy who slipped and fell into a river. That is near Ft. Worth.

The mayor of Rosenberg, Texas declaring a state of disaster now. Mandatory evacuations will take effect in the next hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:10:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kind of didn't prepare for it. We knew it was coming, but at the same time, I mean, you don't prepare something like this to pack up your whole house in the morning.

MALVEAUX: Tom Sater, he has more on the devastating floods. And Jennifer Gray, live in South Carolina.

Tom, good to see you here. Is there an end in sight in the flood and rain that we're seeing here? I quickly want to know when is this going to end.

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The rain has let up and that's good news, Suzanne. In fact I think it will be until Tuesday we will get another round. But one weather system after another moves into parts of Texas, mainly we are talking Houston down to Galveston, some suburbs to the north. But really, even in the middle of the country since last Saturday, over 100 tornadoes.

The good news is we are looking at a dry radar picture, but the rivers and streams are going to continue to go up. And that's where we got some problems because historic flooding is occurring. Numerous roads are closed. This is always good news, but when you look at the last 48 hours, we are looking at communities that were devastated just last month with a foot of rainfall. And the same communities even a year ago today, Memorial Day weekend.

In red is the danger zone. Now, this is on the San Jacinto River. It has dipped down, but you're getting over 120 feet, so that is going to occur. It is Fort Ben County communities there, again, just last night more evacuations. But also in Montgomery County, we have over 200 water rescues from first responders just the Friday night alone. So the good news is we are going to catch a little bit of a break. This is Monday morning.

So again, even as rivers and strings arise, the last thing they want is any more rainfall. This is Monday morning. So again, battle slide back into those communities unfortunately by Tuesday. So if that wasn't bad enough, I know you Suzanne have more on my counterpart who is looking at the flooding going on at the parts of the east coast.

MALVEAUX: Before we actually go, the upcoming weather conditions, it is going to help or hurt those rescue and search efforts under way?

SATER: Well, it should help the communities that have seen rising waters in their homes. There have been number of families have actually have been trapped. They have been able to get in there. But they are there is still more families that are in need of evacuating as you see here, these pictures that we have already been receiving. This will continue to if a place. But it's those that live on the rivers, the largest tributaries, Suzanne, they are going to have to evacuate. And in some cases was just voluntary, but they are using water pumps that seemed to work just last month when the same communities had this devastating flooding. Many families already receiving funds from FEMA, may not get another dime now that they're going through this just a month later.

MALVEAUX: Tom, thank you so much. Appreciate that. We wish the best to those folks down there.

And Jennifer Gray, of course in Charleston, South Carolina.

Jennifer, you are on the ground there. What do you see in terms of flooding? The water, how high it has gotten?

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, in Charleston, actually not bad at all. We have had some off and on showers throughout the day. The heaviest rainfall is actually south of us, outside of (INAUDIBLE) where we have seen water extremely high. In fact, parts of I-95 are shut down at the moment because of the high water. So people urged not to drive through it. If you do see high water and just stay home.

So Charleston actually people are out and about. We have actually seen a few peaks of sunshine. People have cabin fever here, though. They were shut inside all day yesterday and most of today. Downtown now, people are starting to come out. And so the real risk as we move forward will be the rip currents here and north of us when you have the strong east wind, the rip currents can be deadly. In fact one missing swimmer off the coast of North Carolina as of last night.

So people need to be careful especially coming here from other parts of country. Not sure exactly how to look for rip currents and how dangerous they can be. So the rain, the flooding south of us and rip currents will be the main concern moving forward.

This system has been downgraded to a tropical depression, but the rain will linger across northern portion of Georgia and South Carolina through tomorrow as it continues to push north and a lot of moisture already making its way north through the mid-Atlantic -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Jennifer Gray, appreciate it. Of course cabin fever can get you out there and all about that as D.C. too, two weeks of rain.

So thank you very much, Jennifer. Appreciate it.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

MALVEAUX: The rolling thunder motor cycle rally under way this Memorial Day weekend. Donald Trump is expected to speak there.

Scott McLean, he is at the event. And Scott, tell us what people are saying about Trump's expected speech.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Suzanne. As you mentioned, thousands of motorcyclists rumbling through Washington, D.C. this Memorial Day weekend. They are really putting the spotlight on veterans. As you mentioned, Donald Trump expected to speak here in just a couple of minutes within the hour. So what kind of reception is he getting? We'll explain ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:39] MALVEAUX: It took two ballots, but the libertarian party has now picked its presidential candidate. Former New Mexico governor, Gary Johnson secured the nomination about an hour ago at the party's convention in Orlando. This will be Johnson's second time to run as the libertarian presidential candidate. He ran in 2012, finished with nearly one percent of the national vote. For his acceptance speech, Johnson made a plea to the convention to elect former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld as his running mate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY JOHNSON, LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If it is Bill Weld, there is a real possibility that we can achieve major party status in this country. And who would have dreamed that that was possible four years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We are going to have a live report from the convention later this hour.

Donald Trump taking his campaign road show to the nation's capital, this is for the motorcycle rally saluting veterans. I want to take a live loo here. This is the annual rolling thunder bike rally at the Lincoln memorial as some people gathering there. For nearly 30 years, thousands of motorcyclists have met Memorial Day weekend. And this rally is designed to call attention to prisoners of war and those serviced men and women listed as missing in action.

Trump often touts his advocacy for retired veterans. But he is also made disparaging comments about prisoners of war in the past. Trump once suggested that Senator John McCain, a POW from the Vietnam War was not a hero because he was captured.

Out CNN Scot McLean is covering the rally for us. So Scott, what are we expecting to hear from Trump when he arrives and interesting to see how the crowd receives him.

MCLEAN: Yes, it certainly will, Suzanne. Look. Donald Trump as you mentioned talks constantly about his support for veteran. But it is not very often that he gets the chance to speak to them directly. Today, he will have his chance speaking at this event today, expected to be here within the hour. We have just gotten word that his crew has just left Dulles airport. So expected to be here soon.

Now, for the last couple of hours, we have heard the constant drone of motorcycles riding around the capital and across the Potomac River to the national mall. And to pay respects to POWs and soldiers who are missing in action as you mentioned, a lot of these people are Veterans themselves.

So what do they think of Donald Trump? This is not a Donald Trump- sanctioned event in particular. In fact, a lot of the people here didn't even know that he would be here. But anecdotally we have actually heard a lot of support for Donald Trump. They like that he is not a politician. They like that he might shake things up in Washington D.C. But that support is far from universally. You mentioned those John McCain comments. Well, yesterday on CNN, former senator Bob Dole actually called on Donald Trump, who he supports, to apologize to POWs for his comments. Now, the comments don't sit well with everyone here for sure. But a lot of people are willing to look past them. When I asked about whether or not they think Donald Trump would be good for veterans, listen.

[14:20:41] MALVEAUX: I want to mention real quick here to our audience that we did just see the Donald Trump arrival, the motorcade that just pulled up there. I believe that he is inside that motorcade where people are taking pictures. You can hear some cheering and a as everybody kind of focuses their attention on those vehicles that just rolled in. I know there was a lot of discussion -- there he is. Yes, waving to the crowds.

I know that were lot of questions where or not he would ride into town with some of those other motorcyclists, but it seems that he has taken the traditional route and he is just walking up on to the stage, greeting the crowd. Sounds like it's a largely supportive. Some handshakes and initial greetings there.

MCLEAN: Yes, Suzanne. You know, Donald Trump we know is actually -- sorry. It looks like he's speaking now.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So we love those signs. Make America great again. Very simple. Make America great again. So in riding over, there are hundreds of thousands of people all along the highways and they can't get in. In other words, you're very good at real estate. You got in. Congratulations. Congratulations.

It's a great way to spend a very, very important day. And you know what that day is. We have so many friends and so many family. And, look, Memorial Day, so important it's our day. And we have to be very proud of it. And we are very proud of it and it's an honor to be with you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

So rolling thunder, I will say no matter where I go, rolling thunder, look at all these bikers. Do we love the bikers? Yes. We love the bikers. But all over the place, no matter where I go, there are bikers. And they come with the biker and the bikes are all over. We've had cases where we would have like make a speech and we would have 500 bikes, we have a thousand bikes. And I said what are they all doing here? And my people would say they're here to protect you, Mr. Trump. It's an amazing thing. It is an amazing thing.

And I want to tell you, some of these people are tough. And some of the guys I see in that bike, I tell you what, they are rough, and I get out and I shake their hands and there are -- I tell you, there is love, there is love and it's an incredible feeling. And that is why I wanted to be with you today and I really appreciate being invited because we're with you 100 percent. We are with you 100 percent, 100- thank you. He just said and we're just with you 100 percent. Well, we are going to do some things. I mean, we can't have Hillary

Clinton be our president. That I can tell you. That's all we need. That's all we need. And just so you know and speaking of that, as you know, she wants to be abolish the second amendment. Remember that. And we are going to protect our second amendment. Every little inch of our second amendment. And the NRA, as you saw, the NRA just came out last week and they endorsed Donald Trump sooner than they have ever endorsed any candidate ever before. So that was an honor. And they are amazing people. Amazing people.

So we have a lot of things that we have to straighten out in our country. Number one, we have to rebuild our military. It has been decimated. It's been decimated. When you think of the great General Patton and all of our great general, they're spinning in their graves. When they watch, we can't beat ISIS. We are going to beat ISIS. We are going to knock the hell out of them. We are going to end it. We are going to end it. Remember that.

So we are rebuild our military. We are going to make it bigger and better and stronger than ever before. We have no choice. We have to do it. And by the way, it's the single cheapest thing we can do. Believe me. So we are going to rebuild the military and we are going to take care of our veterans. Our veterans have been treated so badly in this country. You have a secretary that last week said, no, the wait time doesn't matter. Forget about wait time. I know people and I have gotten to know so many vets and we just raised almost $6 million for the vets because I didn't do a television show, I said let's do this. And we are announcing on Tuesday all of the groups that we put up this money and we raised this tremendous amount of money because we love the vets. And that is going to be announced on Tuesday. All of the groups that have gotten the money will be announced on Tuesday. We are having a big press conference and it will be great and it is going to be a great day.

But h we have to take care of our vets. And in many cases illegal immigrants are taken much, really, re taking much better care by this country, taken care of than our veterans. And that is not going to happen, OK. It's not going to happen. We're not going to allow that to happen any longer.

Now, we have so many different cases, folks, where you look at what is going on in the border when I announced on June 16th that I was running for president -- by the way, who the hell would have thought this was going to happen, right? Remember they said June 16th, I watched all these pundits -- by the way, the press -- liars. The worst. They are the worst. Low lives. These are some of worst most dishonest people. I actually had a story today. It was sort of interesting. Somebody wrote. But you know, I have 73 people on my staff and I won long ahead of schedule. You know, I was supposed to be going to Cleveland and July and it was going to be a big fight and they didn't know if I could win then. They were going to -- they even talked about having a second convention in August, stuff that nobody ever even heard about. And look what happened. We won. We, we. I'm just the messenger. But we won and Hillary can't even beat Bernie. She can't beat him. And beating Bernie would not be tough in all fairness. Although he is right about one thing, trade. The guy is -- [14:27:27] MALVEAUX: All right. Let's bring in our panelist here and

talk about what we've been hearing from Donald Trump there this Washington. We'll bring back Scott McLean who is with us. Joining us also Jay Newton-Small, Washington correspondent for "TIME" magazine, Julian Zelizer, a historian professor at Princeton University.

So Jay, first of all, I will go to you. We are hearing very familiar things. Not a lot new. But he did say that he is going to give us more information about the groups, specific groups that are getting hone from what he's raised that $6 million for veterans. I know there has been some questions about how much was raised and who was getting that money. What do you anticipate that we are going to see or hear on Tuesday? What are you going to be listening for?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, TIME MAGAZINE: Hi, Suzanne. It is interesting. I was actually at that event. It was instead of doing the debate if you remember in Iowa, he said he would not do the debate and he was going to have his own event and he instead held a big fund raiser for the veterans. And he said he raised $6 million but then there is been a lot of questions about the accounting of that money since then. And the money hasn't been produced. The "Washington Post" did call around to all these group, said have you received anything, have you received anything, and they said no. So he is now saying that he will announce on Tuesday at a press conference that here are the groups that have received the money and here is a full accounting for the money.

Now, what is interesting to me about this is that this is the first time Donald Trump has actually really responded to some sort of criticism on the trail, responded to a story and said, you know, all right, here is some evidence, here is what is going on. He was like, I'm going to prove this. The question I think I would have, is he now going to show us his tax returns, is he going to start responding to other sort of calls for more information out there from him.

MALVEAUX: And Scott, are these the kinds of things that veterans who gathered there are asking about? Do they care about these thing or is it overwhelmingly support for somebody who is standing before them and making these promises, making these proclamations saying I'm going to support you, I'm going to work with you, I'm going to earn money for you, those kinds of things as opposed to some of the questions that have come up around his support for veterans?

MCLEAN: You know what, Suzanne. Anecdotally, we have actually heard, you know, people talking about a lot of issues other than veterans today. They want someone in office, at least the people that I spoke to today, they want someone in office who is not a typical politician. They want someone who is an outsider or someone who might be able to shake things up in Washington, D.C.

A lot of people also weren't necessarily aware of these questions about this $6 million supposedly raised for veterans groups.

[14:30:00] Obviously Donald Trump keen to put that issue to bed and he is going to do so on Tuesday. A lot of people also had some mixed feelings about those questions about John McCain that you mentioned earlier.

Clearly, they didn't sit well with everyone, but a lot of people were certainly willing to look past them because they actually do believe that Donald Trump is going to be good for veterans.

Obviously those feelings are not universal among the group here, but it's some of the things that we heard this morning.

MALVEAUX: And Julian, we've heard again Donald Trump saying that he is going to knock the hell out of ISIS. We've heard this kind of tough talk before. Is this the kind of thing you think that American voters want to hear or do you think he's listening and talking to kind of a war weary American electorate?

People who are like, you know, we've had enough of these wars, maybe this isn't really what we want to hear? What do you make of his taking on ISIS and this really robust military effort?

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Well, he's actually tried to have it both ways. So on the one hand, he's talked about limiting American commitments overseas and using force selectively.

And then he says when he is going to use force, he will use it in overwhelming fashion. And I think so far the evidence is in the votes.

And I think it's been playing well at the Republican electorate and the question is, does that do well as he tries to broaden his reach and does the war wariness from Iraq start to cut against some of these kind of claims. But so far it has not.

MALVEAUX: Yes, and to this crowd, he is saying he wants to build the military. I mean, before he said he really doesn't want that big foot print around the globe. Jay, this is again, one of those situations where you hear him speaking very much in this kind of duality, maybe even opposites, if you will.

How do people really figure out what it is that he is going to do? What is the real policy and his philosophy is about how he would govern?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: That's the real challenge here, Suzanne, is you know, he seems to -- he says one thing to one group and says another thing to another group and it makes it very difficult to figure out what he would actually do in office as president.

And I think it also makes it very difficult to some degree to run against him and to criticize him because you criticize him on one thing and then he says something completely different.

For example, fiscal conservatives, he always said that he would shrink the government, shrink the military, and now he is saying to, you know, defense hawks that he would grow the military. I mean, which I'm sure fiscal conservatives will upset about. But this just underlines yet again the sort of Teflon Don, how tough it is to run against Donald Trump when he really can get away with saying almost anything without impunity because people like the character.

They like the bombast. They like the feeling of change rather than the details of change itself.

MALVEAUX: All right, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much, everybody. Great talking to you. Jay Newton-Small, Scott McLean, Julian Zelizer. Of course, we will be right back. Let's take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:32]

MALVEAUX: Before he set foot into the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders says he knew he was facing an uphill battle against his own party. No secret the Vermont senator has been extremely critical of the primary election process. This morning, he is giving a harsh new assessment of the system. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What has upset me and what I think is I wouldn't use the word rigged because we knew what the rules were, but what is really dumb is that you have closed primaries like in New York State where 3 million people who are Democrats or Republicans could not participate.

Where you have a situation where over 400 superdelegates came on board Clinton's campaign before anybody else was in the race eight months before the first vote was cast. That's not rigged. I think it's just a dumb process, which has certainly disadvantaged our campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We'll talk about this more with national press secretary for Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, Simone Sanders. Simone, so first of all, let's talk about a little bit of a language change there, right.

Because he said it's not a rigged system, he had said before a rigged system. Now he's saying it's a dumb system. Obviously, he feels very strongly it needs to be changed.

But are we to interpret this as kind of a little bit of a walk back from what, you know, has been seen as something that was really enabled him to be cheated out of the kind of support he thinks he should have?

SIMONE SANDERS, NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY, BERNIE 2016: Not at all. Nope, not at all. So I want to be clear. Senator Sanders has said from the beginning that we are taking on the establishment and that we live in a rigged economy that is kept in place by a system of corrupt campaign finance.

When it comes to talking about the system of the nominating process on the Democratic side, Senator Sanders has never said that he thought the system was rigged, but he has said that the system is not set up to allow the most people possible to participate.

You know, as the senator said this morning, when you have 3 million in New York State that cannot vote because of the way that the rules are set up, we believe that the party should be about opening it up, bringing new people into the party.

That's what our campaign has done. And going from now all the way through to the convention and beyond, Senator Sanders and our campaign, we are going to be fighting to make sure and ensure that the Democratic Party is reflective of all people.

It's reflective of working people and that the most people possible can come into the party, young people, people that are new to the democratic process and that can participate without these barriers.

Because that's what this should be about. It should be about opening it up, not barriers to people participating.

MALVEAUX: And we heard him this morning slamming Trump again about backing out of the debate. This seems to be something that is very important to him. And he also added something that he felt was potentially something that was causing another rift between the two. And I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Well, I have been very touched by Donald Trump's love for me. But John, you know, in all due respect, I think that maybe some of aspect of this which he thinks will advantage himself. So I do appreciate his love and his compassion for me, but I don't really accept his words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Simone, can you unpack that for us if you will is this because it sounds like he doesn't really mean what he says about the love and appreciation that ultimately will advantage Trump. What is he talking about there?

SIMONE SANDERS: Well, look, what Donald Trump is doing and he's not fooling us and I hope he's not fooling the media. He thinks that, you know, trying to coddle or embrace Senator Sanders, if you will, and use him as a shield, it's a bad strategy.

[14:40:08]And I encourage the Trump campaign to get a new strategy. The fact of the matter is, Bernie sanders won't help get Donald Trump elected. Senator Sanders will fight tooth and nail to make sure that Donald Trump does not win the White House come November and hopefully will do that as Senator Sanders is the Democratic nominee.

But I think what he's saying is that, you know, he doesn't believe what Trump saying, you know, Senator Sanders isn't falling for the okie dokie, if you will. He is appreciates the kind words and being so concerned about the senator, but he's not fooling us. Not at all.

MALVEAUX: Is Sanders still set on trying to debate Trump or has he pretty much left that go? Because we have heard him, you know, multiple times really trying to make happen. Has he let that go?

SIMONE SANDERS: Well, you know, it was Donald Trump that noted that had he wanted to debate Senator Sanders and he said we'd be of course interested in doing it and then Donald Trump walked it back and so who knows we might get a phone call in the next hour saying we want to debate again.

You know, Donald Trump is all over the place and I think that is something that the American people should take heed to. I heard him on the clip before I came on talking about we need to increase military spending and I could have sworn I heard Donald Trump before say that we need to cut the budget back.

So Donald Trump is all over the place on what he wants. Look, if the Trump campaign calls us, we'll have that conversation when we cross that bridge. But right now we're focused on winning California.

MALVEAUX: So Sanders is not holding his breath on that one let's just say.

SIMONE SANDERS: Well, look, if Donald Trump calls us, we'll debate Donald Trump anytime, anyplace because, you know, Senator Sanders, he would love to cast his vision against Donald Trump's.

You know, Senator Sanders is out there on the campaign trail talking about, you know, opening up the Democratic process. He is talking about taking on this rigged economy that kept in place by a system of corrupt campaign finance.

Talking about climate change when Donald Trump believes climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese. So I think he would love nothing more than to have that conversation. But who knows?

MALVEAUX: All right. We have to leave it there, Simone. All right, Simone Sanders, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

We'll hear what one of Hillary Clinton supporter in Congress has to say about all of that, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:13]

MALVEAUX: The Libertarian Party has picked its presidential candidate. It took two ballots, but former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson has once again secured the nomination. The party is hoping voters unhappy with candidates for the two major parties will give Johnson a chance this election year.

Johnson ran on the Libertarian ticket in 2012, finished with about 1 percent of the national vote. Recent polls show him getting about 10 percent in a three-way match up with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

I want to bring in our Phil Mattingly, who is covering the Libertarian convention in Orlando. So tell us, Phil, whether or not you think this is going to make a difference, whether they think it's going to make a difference and now they're starting this major battle in picking their vice presidential candidates.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think if you look at the numbers right now in the early polling, there is no question that this ticket, whatever it ends up being, could end up having a major difference.

Right now, Gary Johnson polling around 10 percent, but one of the key things he says he needs is his vice presidential selection and that would be going to Bill Weld, the former Massachusetts governor.

Now Suzanne, going on behind me right now, the vice presidential candidates are making their speeches. The Libertarian Party faces attention. It's not unlike what Democrats and Republicans faces, purity versus pragmatism.

Bill Weld and Gary Johnson represent the latter. The purist, though, self-identified radicals have major problems with Bill Weld. Now who is standing his way right now?

We're shortly going to have votes on that vice presidential nomination. Gary Johnson has made very clear for his candidacy to have relevancy for their opportunity to reach that 15 percent threshold to get on to a debate stage, he needs bill weld at his side right now, Suzanne.

That remains an open question. If that remains an open question, so does the impact Gary Johnson can have on the general election -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Phil, thank you. Keep us posted. Let us know what happens. Appreciate it.

Now to this, looking at live pictures. This is Liberty State Park in New Jersey. That is where Fleet Week rather is in full swing. The Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard using the event to demonstrate their abilities and honor the service men and women all over Memorial Day weekend. We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:58]

MALVEAUX: Did you know some of the bridges you drive across every day are literally falling apart? Bridges all over the country are cracking, crumbling, covered with led paint, and 60,000 need to be fixed, but there is less and less money set aside to do it. CNN's Rene Marsh is taking a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sixty thousand vehicles cross the Arlington Memorial Bridge between D.C. and Virginia every day. This is what drivers don't see.

(on camera): It's just eroding and the concrete is falling off. We have to wear masks and gloves inside of the bridge because this paint is all lead paint. This beam is helping to support the bridge and if you take a look, it is badly corroded and you see how thin that steel is. You see holes in the steel.

(voice-over): The original support beams from 1932 have never been replaced.

RAY LAHOOD, FORMER SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We are like a third world country when it comes to infrastructure.

MARSH: Federal government spending on infrastructure has decline 9 percent from 2003 to 2014. Every state has some degree of bad bridges that need to be repaired. From Los Angeles where trees are growing out of cracks in this bridge to Chicago where netting is in place to protect drivers from falling concrete.

LAHOOD: The reason we have 57,000 deficient bridges is because we - have not made the investment as a national government.

MARSH: Former transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, blames Congress for failing to raise the gas tax in 23 years, which funds projects like bridges and roads.

(on camera): Have you been against raising the tax because it's just bad politics?

REPRESENTATIVE BILL SHUSTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: First of all, the economy hasn't been great. Raising the gas tax doesn't solve the long term funding problem.

MARSH: As Congress tries to figure out this long term solution, bridges are crumbling so what do we do right now?

SHUSTER: Our bill, the fast act that we passed in the Senate and president signed into law, we put more dollars into focusing on the critical infrastructure.

MARSH (voice-over): His Republican colleague disagrees.

REPRESENTATIVE JIM RENACCI (R), OHIO: It's funded for five years, but we use ten years' worth of gimmicks to pay for it. These are the kind of things that don't make sense.

MARSH: Anthony Foxx is the current head of Department of Transportation.

(on camera): But isn't everyone guilty, I mean, when Democrats were in control of Congress, this situation was what it is today, as well.

ANTHONY FOXX, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: I think every year we go by the challenge gets much greater and that's why we don't have another moment to waste. MARSH (voice-over): Researchers at the University of Michigan believed they may have a solution, a bendable concrete that can heal itself from cracks.

PROFESSOR VICTOR LI, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: We've set our targets towards creating infrastructures that would last 100 years.

MARSH: Regular concrete can fail quickly and suddenly. But Professor Victor Li says the bendable concrete can withstand a force hundreds of times more powerful. This sped up video shows how it responds to pressure.

Cracks heal themselves with the help of air and water. The technology lines portions of will bridge in Michigan. The hope is that it could help already crumbling bridges like the Memorial Bridge near the nation's capital.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: The Memorial Bridge will shut down in five years if it doesn't get the $250 million needed for repairs as a lack of funding to fix these crumbling bridges is an issue we're seeing nationwide.

Bridges in bad condition are regularly inspected to prevent a deadly collapse and that professor you saw there from the University of Michigan was just in Washington, D.C. meeting with government entities to discuss this bendable concrete technology.

It just goes to show even though it is still in the research phase, it has the attention of the federal government. Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

MALVEAUX: Up next, mandatory evacuations near Houston. We are going to have the latest on the flooding there. Plus a storm along the east coast. Stay with us. More on CNN NEWSROOM after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:59:13]

MALVEAUX: Hello. Thanks for joining me. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Fredricka Whitfield is off today. We begin in the Cincinnati Zoo, which reopened today to scores of people after a gorilla was shot and killed in order to save a young boy who slipped into the animal's enclosure.

That exhibit remained closed today. Meanwhile outrage from animal rights activists over the gorilla's death. PETA saying the gorilla paid with its life for others' negligence.

And more than 4,000 supporters have signed and online petition on change.org calling for the parents of the child to be held accountable. Police have said there is no plan to pursue charges. CNN's Rachel Crane explains how all of this unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A day of panic and desperation at the Cincinnati Zoo.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: This is in the gorilla cage and a 3-year-old child has fallen into the gorilla cage.

CRANE: A 4-year-old boy slips into the zoo's gorilla habitat and over --