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President Obama Lays Wreath At Tomb Of Unknowns; Fallen Soldiers Honored At Vietnam Memorial; Families Trapped As Battle Moves Closer To Fallujah; Iran Backing Iraqi Military And Militia Near Fallujah; Trump To Reveal Veterans Charity List; Calls For Rio Olympics To Be Postponed; Veterans Charity List Revealed; Trump Critical of Judge; Sanders Goes Full Steam Ahead. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 30, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Jim Sciutto in today for Wolf Blitzer. It is 1:00 p.m. here in Washington this Memorial day, 2:00 p.m. in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 8:00 p.m. in Fallujah, Iraq. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you for joining us.

And we begin this Memorial Day here in Washington as America pauses to honor its fallen. These are live pictures of a ceremony just about to get underway right now at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. It commemorates the 58,220 U.S. soldiers who died in the Vietnam War.

And a short time ago, President Obama and defense secretary Ash Carter laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

The president also delivered remarks praising the heroism of America's fallen soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Those who rest beneath this silence, not only here at Arlington but at veteran cemeteries across our country and around the world and all who still remain missing, they didn't speak the loudest about their patriotism. They let their actions do that. Whether they stood up in times of war, signed up in times of peace or were called up by a draft board, they embodied the best of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Our Barbara Starr is at Arlington National Cemetery today. Barbara, I know you're in the section known as section 60 there. Can you tell us and our viewers who's buried there?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, here in section 60, this is the place where so many Iraq and Afghanistan military members are buried. Those who fell on the battlefields that are now such familiar names to so many Americans, Fallujah, Ramadi, Baghdad in Iraq, Kandahar, Jalalabad, the Korengal (ph) in Afghanistan. This is a place -- you know, I'm going to have the camera pan over a little bit. This is a place, when we first started coming here, this over here was an empty, green meadow. And over the years, you see -- you see 15 years of war that this country has been at. And you see those who have served, some of our youngest military members in these conflicts. this is where they have been laid to rest.

And today, as in so many cemeteries across the country, families, friends, battle buddies, mothers, fathers, grandparents, young children coming out to pay their respects. But even just regular neighbors. We've met many people just from the area who've said they wanted to come here today. So, it's an extraordinary thing.

People have often referred to section 60 as the saddest acre in America because so many young people are laid to rest here. But I think when we're here, we see grief. But what we also see is not the saddest acre in America but maybe the acre in America full of the most love for America's fallen -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: You see all the lives touched there, too. The children, the family members paying tribute today. Barbara Starr, thanks very much.

Well, the Iraqi Army says it has begun an operation to storm Fallujah, another place where many American soldiers died to drive ISIS out of the center of the city. It's been there for two years now. Iraqi forces say they have retaken several towns and villages just to the west of the city. This comes a week after they kicked off an offensive to take back Fallujah entirely from ISIS.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen joins us now from London. Fred, one big concern is that there are 10s of thousands of civilians still trapped in Fallujah. How dire is the situation for them?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's really dire for them. You know, it's interesting because over the past week that this fighting has really ramped up, Jim, a couple of hundred people have managed to get out of Fallujah. About around 50,000, apparently, still remain trapped inside the city.

And, essentially, with ISIS in there, they are -- or the entire remaining population is still, essentially, human shields for ISIS, at this moment in time. They mix in with the population. They go into houses. They fight from there.

And so, certainly something that makes it a lot more difficult, for instance, for the U.S. to target ISIS from the skies. But, of course, also makes going in there, for the Iraqi security forces and its allied militias, a lot more difficult to do in the next coming hours and next coming days that they actually want to move into the real center of Fallujah.

Now, one of the things that the U.S. says is remarkable, though, is the extent that the Iraqi security forces have advanced.

[13:05:04] Now, earlier today, Colonel Steve Warren was on "NEW DAY," and he talked about the advances of the Iraqi security forces (INAUDIBLE.) Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. STEVE WARREN, U.S. ARMY, SPOKESMAN, ANTI-ISIS IRAQI COALITION: About a year ago here in Iraq, the barbarians were at the gate. Baghdad was actually threatened and, in theory, was in direct danger of being invaded by these animals, that we call ISIL.

Now, we've driven them back. They've lost almost 45 percent of the territory that they once held here in Iraq. They've lost 20 percent of the territory that they once held in Syria.

So, we are seeing the Iraqi security forces that, in 2014, quite frankly, collapsed under the pressure that ISIL put on them. We're seeing them begin to rebuild.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: And that rebuilding effort, however, is, of course, one that still is very much in progress, Jim. You can see these advances that have been made there in Fallujah. However, one of the things that's also very much a reality is that there are Iranian-backed Shiite militias that are also very much part of this push. And that, of course, is also a grave concern for the people who are still inside the city of Fallujah -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Frederik Pleitgen with the latest on Fallujah from London.

Let's talk a bit more about this operation. CNN Military Analyst and a former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Iraq, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling joins me now. Thank you for joining us on this Memorial Day.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (retired), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: And a blessed Memorial Day to you, Jim. Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: As you know well, American troops suffered some of their worst losses in Fallujah during the war in Iraq in 2004. More than 100 soldiers, many of them Marines, died battling Al Qaeda-linked surgents (ph). In effect, they are the forbearers to ISIS there. So, here we are now, two years, more than two years, after ISIS took over this city. How is -- how important is it for you, for the soldiers who served under you to take Fallujah back?

HERTLING: Yes. Multiple attacks in the Fallujah, Jim, when I was there in 2004 when the first assault went against that city. We were in Baghdad supporting that operation. And Fallujah has a special place in military history. Truthfully, it's not that big of a town. As Fred just said, there's about 50,000 to 100,000 people there. It's a small dispersed city, mostly one and two-story buildings. But there have been some very difficult fighting there over the years, mainly because it's a Sunni hot bed.

And what you've seen this week, and what I was fascinated by which multiple suburban towns around Fallujah fell over the last week, especially the town of Karmah which has always been problematic which fell last Thursday. And the fact that the Iraqi army announced this morning that they were entering phase three of this operation by putting counterterrorism forces inside this city.

As you just mentioned though, something to watch very closely within the next few days, is what's going to happen with the counterterrorism force that has gone inside the city. The Iraqi security forces or the Iraqi army that's conducting the assault mostly from the south and the northeast and the Shia militia, which, so far, has stayed outside the city. That's critically important and we'll be watching that.

SCIUTTO: Shia militia, of course, backed by Iran. There are reports that senior Iranian commanders are on the ground there as well. Meanwhile, you have U.S. air power backing up the Iraqi forces. They've been doing air strikes. They've been doing artillery strikes, as we've been seeing there. How does the U.S. avoid the impression that this is a joint U.S.-Iranian operation, if not by planning then by just the facts on the ground?

HERTLING: Right. There's been a lot of coordination with the Iraqi security force. And, again, the army has been the one that's actually conducted the maneuver and the assault towards the city. The Shia militia have been around relegated to defensive position around this city.

So, as you see Iraqi tanks, and, yes, those are Iraqi tanks going into this city with support from Iraqi artillery, something we wouldn't think we would have seen this quick after the rebuilding of the Iraqi army, mixed with coalition air power, especially the American ones, it's going to be precisely targeting the Iraq -- the ISIS' forces inside the city of Fallujah.

As Fred, I think, mentioned, estimates are between 400 and 1,000 fighters. That's what the intel estimates are saying. But they are certainly holding human shields. Within the last couple of days, in fact, they've executed some of the men and boys within the city of Fallujah who have refused to fight for ISIS.

So, this is going to be a tough fight. The Iraqi government says they should close it down within two days and clear the forces. I doubt that, Jim. I think it's going to take much longer than that.

SCIUTTO: But are you worried about the roles, specially of Iran, supporting our Iraqi allies on the ground and the U.S., in effect, on the same side as Iran in this battle?

HERTLING: Truthfully, I'm not. I think that a lot of the Iranian -- the Shia militias. I don't want to call them Iranian militias. The Shia militias coming out of the Batter (ph) core, the Saggers (ph) core and some of the ones that have been supported by Iraqi government. I think they have a -- actually have been relegated to a secondary role which is a good thing.

[13:10:15] It's only if you do see those militias starting to take a primary role that I would be very concerned, Jim. And that's what we have to watch. But, right now, that's not happening. SCIUTTO: General Hertling, I know you're a long time combat

commander. I know you lost women and men in your service. So, on this Memorial Day, our thoughts with you and the people who fought with you.

HERTLING: Well, thank you, Jim, for that. And CNN has been doing a great job continuing to mention that today. It's not only the young men and women who fought and died but also their families that are grieving, as we saw at Arlington a few minutes ago. It's a tough day for those of us but I think most of us will take a big shot of bourbon and toast those who gave their all for the fight for freedom.

SCIUTTO: It's all -- the least we can all do. Thank you very much.

Coming up next, Donald Trump pledging his support to veterans. But he still hasn't released the details of money that he claims he's raised for vets.

And fears over the Zika virus has prompted some doctors to call for the Olympics in Rio to be postponed. We'll have a live report from Brazil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:09] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: To politics and the presidential race now. Donald Trump took center stage in the nation's capital on Sunday speaking at the annual Rolling Thunder event to honor the fallen. Trump has been courting the veteran's vote, but one issue on that front has been dogging him lately, the status of money he says he's raised for veterans' charity.

CNN political reporter Sara Murray joining me now live.

Just remind our viewers if you can where that $6 million came from for veterans and when will we know exactly where it's going.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, sure, Jim.

You remember that Donald Trump skipped the Fox News debate. He said he was going to hold his own event. He was going to do it to raise money for the veterans. And since then he's been, you know, kind of a little bit complaining about it, saying he's only gotten bad press from it, and that's because his campaign has really struggled to answer questions about how much money they actually raised and where that money is going. Donald Trump insists he's going to put all those questions to rest tomorrow. Take a listen to what he had to say this weekend at Rolling Thunder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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've 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're announcing on Tuesday all of the groups that we put up this money and we raise this tremendous amount of money because we love the vets. And that's going to be announced on Tuesday. All of the groups that have gotten the money will be announced on Tuesday. We're having a big press conference and it's going to be great and it's going to be a great day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now, Jim, as of last month, our CNN investigative team had confirmed that there were about $3 million in donations that went from that event to veterans charities and we also confirmed that Donald Trump has donated $1 million of his own money. So hopefully tomorrow will shed a little bit more light on exactly how much was raised and where the rest of that money might be going.

SCIUTTO: Sara Murray, thanks very much.

Let's bring in CNN political director David Chalian and CNN political commentator Ryan Lizza. He's Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker."

So, Donald Trump had another target as well. He went after the federal judge who's ordered the release of documents. This relates to the case against Trump University. Let me play for you and for our viewers what he said in a rally in San Diego about this judge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I have a judge who is a hater of Donald Trump. A hater. He's a hater. His name is Gonzalo Curial. The judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great, I think that's fine. You know what, I think the Mexicans are going to end up loving Donald Trump when I give all these jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: So, a couple points there. First of all, why would he bring up the ethnicity of this judge, David, Ryan?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Go ahead, Ryan.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know. I honestly don't know why a presidential candidate would mention someone's ethnicity. You know, there's a pretty serious case that Hillary Clinton's involved in, right, Judicial Watch, a public interest group in Washington has been suing to get all those documents from the State Department. And that judge happens to be African-American. Imagine if Hillary Clinton came out and said, you know, I can't believe this judge is making me give all these documents. You know, he happens to be African-American. I mean there would be an outcry. So I don't get it.

But, politically, I mean, every time the Republicans, who are trying to get to like Donald Trump, trying to embrace him, and, you know, every time they think he's going to start becoming a more traditional candidate, he says something like this, which offends a whole group of (INAUDIBLE), anyway. CHALIAN: And yet this is classic Donald Trump, right? I mean this is - he - I mean if you look at how any of the lawsuits he's dealt with, just throughout the

course of this campaign, the Miss America, the talent agency stuff he dealt with. He takes on a legal opponent as vociferously as he takes on a political opponent, if not even more so.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes.

CHALIAN: And so this is part of a complete takedown -

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CHALIAN: Of a judge that he just believes is not on his side in the case. And he's going to do everything possible so - to try to discredit in some way. Why the ethnicity would be part of that is beyond me.

And also -

LIZZA: That's what's so unusual because -

SCIUTTO: Right. Well, he said right there, he must have it in for him. I mean that's what he was hinting (INAUDIBLE).

LIZZA: But, look - look, Hillary Clinton went after the inspector general at the State Department, right, to try to turn him into a partisan inspector general and she couldn't get a fair shake. But she never talked about his race or ethnicity. That's the line that he has been willing to cross that in, you know, modern American politics just no other politician would do.

CHALIAN: And of course we should say, the judge is American.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CHALIAN: Born to Mexican parents, but born in Indiana and -

SCIUTTO: Right.

CHALIAN: Or raised there and, you know, yes.

SCIUTTO: That is the nature of our country, right? Italian-Irish right here.

CHALIAN: Yes, same.

SCIUTTO: Let's talk about something else. Third party challenges to Donald Trump. Conservative commentator Bill Kristol, he tweeted this just over the weekend. "Just a heads up over the holiday weekend. There will be an independent candidate, an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance."

[13:20:03] Do we have any idea who might be on this list?

LIZZA: No. That's Bill Kristol being Bill Kristol and loving - he loves to stir the pot. He obviously dislikes Donald Trump strongly and has been leading the effort to find a conservative alternative to Trump. So everyone wants to know who it is.

SCIUTTO: Well, let's tick off some folks who have taken them out - themselves out of the running, right?

CHALIAN: OK.

SCIUTTO: I mean it - who's not on that list can we say with some confidence, right?

CHALIAN: Mitt Romney has taken himself out of the running. I think we saw Ben Sasse, the senator from Nebraska, has said he's not interested in filling the role.

LIZZA: And I interviewed Ben Sasse recently. He reiterated that to me.

SCIUTTO: Yes, politicians do changed their minds when they rule things out.

CHALIAN: They do. And you - but, listen, my guess is at this point, if Bill Kristol and the financial backing that he's put together, the strategic backing that he's put together for someone to be this vehicle, if - if it hasn't emerged by now, it's not likely going to be a household name.

SCIUTTO: Right.

CHALIAN: I mean this is going to be somebody that I think -

LIZZA: Yes.

CHALIAN: If somebody does step up and do this, we're now at the stage it's going to be someone a lot of people don't know that there would be - need to be a big education component -

SCIUTTO: Right.

CHALIAN: To who this person is and why they might provide an alternative.

What we do know is that the country is not closing the door to the notion that there might be a better option than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. So it's not that there's not an opening that the American people are willing to listen to. It just seems that we're so late in the game, past these filing deadlines, that if you don't have somebody who's already known in some way, you just create a much tougher task for yourself.

SCIUTTO: Now, typically, if a Republican like Bill Kristol comes out with a candidate, you would typically say, if this was any other year, that person more likely to take away from the Republicans than from the Democrats. But would that hold true this year when you have so many folks frustrated with the major parties?

LIZZA: I still think it's the - they're going to come up with a conservative. I don't see how that candidate would take away from Hillary Clinton, right? Maybe, you know, we don't know what Donald Trump's new strengths are. Does Donald Trump take part of Hillary Clinton's traditional get working class Democratic voters? Do those go to Trump and then some of Trump's supporters go to this third party candidate and leaves, you know, squeezes Hillary?

SCIUTTO: Right.

LIZZA: But I don't think the option that they're talking about here anymore is to win.

CHALIAN: Right.

LIZZA: I think it's to win a few states. And, remember, if you don't get a majority of the electoral votes, our presidential election gets kicked to the House of Representatives, which, obviously, is controlled by Republicans.

SCIUTTO: Interesting.

LIZZA: So that's one of the pot-stirring things here is, can they kick the general election - presidential election to the House?

SCIUTTO: To the House.

Stay with us. We're going to bring you back for another (INAUDIBLE) because just ahead, one top Democrat says the Bernie Sanders campaign is all but over, but Sanders certainly not ready to give up the fight. Is he leaving the door open for a possible VP slot? We'll talk about that and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:50] SCIUTTO: Donald Trump is off the campaign trail this Memorial Day. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is keeping it low key. She and former President Clinton took part in a Memorial Day parade in Chappaqua, New York, where they live. Secretary Clinton shook hands and mingled with others in the crowd. Clinton just added more campaign dates as well in California. But Bernie Sanders is going full steam ahead in California, eight days before that state's primary. Sanders has two events on his campaign calendar today. He takes part in a community discussion later today and holds a rally tonight. Both events in Oakland.

For more on the Democratic primary race, let's bring in - bring back CNN political director David Chalian and CNN political commentator Ryan Lizza.

So, David, Bernie Sanders, he's determined to fight on until the end. He's talked about going to the convention. He's now pushing to remove some Clinton supporters from key convention spots. How does this fight play out?

CHALIAN: Well, It's going to play out in two different phases now. It's going to play out one way for the next week because he's got a week left. He's been playing hard in California. And all due respect, I know that Washington, D.C. votes on the 14th. But the - but with New Jersey and California being the two big delegate prizes remaining, Bernie Sanders has put everything into California in the last month basically and is going to have a week there to continue to make the arguments that he's making.

Then there's going to be another phase, which is after Hillary Clinton crosses the threshold of 2,383 that she needs to secure the Democratic nomination, which will likely happen next Tuesday night, then Sanders is going to have to figure out how to handle himself in this new phase. Even if he wants to go on to the convention, it's no longer going to be about the rallies and going to woo voters because that will be over.

So it will be about negotiating with the Clinton team. And that part, we've yet to see how that will play out. You're right, they're indicating that they really want to play some big cards as it comes to the convention. The platform committee, the credentials committee, make sure that they are getting a fair shake from their perspective now.

SCIUTTO: Speaking of this - this negotiation, if you want to call it, he seems to be leaving the door open to a VP slot. Listen to what he had to say on NBC this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would hope, if I am not the nominee, that the vice presidential candidate will not be from Wall Street, will be somebody who has a history of standing up and fighting for working families, taking on the drug companies whose greed is doing so much harm, taking on Wall Street, taking on corporate America and fight for a government that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you take the call if Hillary Clinton asked you to be her running mate?

SANDERS: Well, right now, again, what I am - here we are in California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fair enough.

SANDERS: I'm knocking my brains out to win the Democratic nomination.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you are.

SANDERS: That's where - that's where I am right now. What happens afterwards, we will - you know, we'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: So he said someone who fighting for American families, taking on the banks. Who does that sound like to you?

LIZZA: Sounds like Bernie Sanders to me, or someone from that wing of the party. SCIUTTO: Yes.

LIZZA: I mean this is so different than 2008, where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, even though it was such a hard fought primary, they didn't have deep ideological differences. Sanders is different. So when Hillary Clinton bowed out in 2008, she wanted things from Obama like, you know, paying down her campaign debt.

[13:30:01] That is not where Sanders is. Sanders wants policy, right? He wants to influence the Democratic Party and keep the pressure on Hillary Clinton, to make sure she's at least looking at his issues.