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Chaos at Euro 2016; Romney on Political Heartbreak; Women Divided on Clinton; Queen Elizabeth II Celebrates Birthday; Immigration Hotly Contested in Brexit Debate; ISIS Claims Deadly Damascus Bombings. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired June 12, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:00]

JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Violent clashes between opposing fans mar day 2 of the European football championships.

Plus: the war within the party, former standard bearer Mitt Romney questions his fellow Republicans' support for Donald Trump.

And look at how fears of a migrant invasion are contributing to the U.K.'s Brexit debate.

Hello, I'm Jonathan Mann and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

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MANN: Thanks for joining us.

For a third straight day, violent fan clashes have marred the Euro 2016 football championship in France. English and Russian fans scuffled once again on the streets of Marseille Saturday ahead of their teams' 1-1 draw on the pitch.

Reports indicate the violence even spread to the match venue at the end of the contest. A police spokesman said 1,000 police were deployed to secure the game and the situation had calmed down. Police earlier used tear gas in the city against bottle-throwing crowds. France classified the England-Russia match as an "at-risk event," and police were deployed in reinforcement. Some 30 people were injured, more than a dozen arrests made in the past few days. Our Alex Thomas has more from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX THOMAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When Dimitri Payet scored a sensational goal on the opening day of Euro 2016 to make himself a national hero for host France, it appeared that football had finally shoved the negative headlines to one side.

But only 24 hours later, matters off the pitch again stealing the spotlight at this European football championship. Reuters reporting after England's game against Russia, Russian fans charged into the section containing England supporters. There was panic and there was a bit of a crush. We are yet to receive details precisely of injuries.

We know that the authorities were expecting possible trouble outside the Stade Velodrome in Marseille. Bars had been asked to close and not serve alcohol.

But inside the grounds, there did appear to be a lack of policing and stewarding, according to social media reports.

The wife of one of the England players, Rebekah Vardy, married to Leicester City striker Jamie, saying on Twitter, "That has to be up there with the worst experience EVER at an away game! Teargassed for no reason, caged and treated like animals! Shocking!"

The organizers of Euro 2016, UEFA, European football's governing body, said they won't comment about possible sanctions against either Russia or England or both until they receive more information from their disciplinary departments, UEFA have observers at all their matches, of course.

But it was just the latest in a long line of incidents, three days of violence in Marseille in the south of France that ended up on this Saturday with around 500 people rioting, police having to break it up having to use tear gas canisters once again.

And police saying the total tally of arrests over two days was 17. And on the Saturday, there were a total of 31 injuries, four seriously hurt, and three police officers receiving minor injuries.

The French interior ministry has felt obliged to comment as well, saying preventing violence is a priority for them. They have banned already 6,000 known troublemakers, including 3,000 from the U.K., who have three representatives at this Euro 2016 tournament. And 204 foreign police officers are helping the police forces here in France to deal with it.

They're saying that they had planned for possible football hooliganism and it won't take resources away from the security services planning to prevent any possible terror attacks.

As I said, all those bad headlines taking the focus away from matter on the pitch, where England had led for so long against Russia before the Russians got a late equalizer. It means Wales topped Group B after winning their game against Slovakia earlier on in the day.

And Albania nil Switzerland won in Group A was the other result on day two of Euro 2016 -- Alex Thomas, CNN, Paris, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: Aside from brawling, English and Russian football fans had different reactions to their match's outcome, a draw with England is a victory for some Russian fans and they are celebrating in Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANN (voice-over): But English fans in Marseille seemed a bit less excited although just as committed to partying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) and they were awful and got a lucky goal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you feel about England's chances for the rest of the competition now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're still going to win it. Our (INAUDIBLE).

MANN (voice-over): Now for all of the Euro 2016 action, you can go to cnn.com. We all have the latest highlights and scores for the championship, including for the three matches set for Sunday, Germany versus Ukraine, Poland --

[03:05:00]

MANN (voice-over): -- versus Northern Ireland, Turkey versus Croatia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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MANN: CNN has exclusively obtained an audio recording of a top Republican getting emotional talking about Donald Trump. Former presidential nominee Mitt Romney was speaking at a private retreat with millionaire Republican donors. He showed his frustration with the rise of Trump and the current state of the Republican Party.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS: I find this so troubling that -- and I know a lot of folks are saying, Mitt, just get off your high horse on this and get behind the guy.

But I -- these things are personal. These -- I mean, I love this country. I love the founders. I love what this country is built upon and its values. And seeing this is breaking my heart from the party that (INAUDIBLE) --

(APPLAUSE)

(END AUDIO CLIP)

MANN: Trump is swinging back at his predecessor; in Pennsylvania, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee responded to an exclusive CNN interview with Romney. The vocal Trump critic told CNN that Trump would bring, in his words, "trickle-down racism and misogyny."

Now Trump is relying on an attack he's used before, slamming Romney for losing to President Barack Obama in 2012.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And by the way, for a guy that really let us down, this poor Mitt Romney is sad, he's going around, oh, oh, oh. He is a sad case. He choked. You know what a choke artist is, right?

You know what a choke -- you know when a guy misses the kick, you get rid of him, you bring another one in, right, because you don't want that thought going in his head too much.

He choked. He should have beaten a failed guy. He was a failed president. He should have beaten a failed president. He went away.

The last month, where was he?

I even called his people. I said, get him on television. Say what you want about Obama, he was on Jay Leno, he was on David Letterman, he was all over the place and Romney was sitting a home, not doing anything.

What the hell happened?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: Joining us is Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

Thanks so much for being with us once again. Mitt Romney says that Donald Trump as president would usher in racism, sexism, bigotry, misogyny. I mean, he's saying this about his own nominee.

Republican executive Meg Whitman likens him to Adolf Hitler.

Once again, prominent Republicans saying this about a Republican nominee, Is this normal?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA'S CENTER FOR POLITICS: No, it is absolutely extraordinary. We haven't seen anything like this since 1964, when Barry Goldwater was nominated by the Republicans and lost in a landslide to President Lyndon Johnson.

And to be honest, you actually have to go back to 1912, when President William Howard Taft was opposed by a former president from his own party, Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as an independent. We just don't have this kind of party disloyalty very often. And this will go down in history, however the election turns out.

MANN: Well, does it matter to the outcome of the election?

I ask because the head of the Republican National Committee told Romney and Whitman and the other rebels in the leadership ranks that Trump will win with them or without them.

Does Trump need these people?

SABATO: He does need them. He needs at least some of them. And the Republican National Committee, of course, is whistling past the graveyard. He knows very well what this means if it doesn't change. And how do you take back the words uttered by Mitt Romney or some of

the other prominent Republicans?

You can't simply wake up one morning and say, well, he's apologized and everything's fine.

MANN: Now you say that he knows what's going to happen.

What's going to happen?

SABATO: I think, assuming Hillary Clinton is not indicted on the e- mail problem and assuming that the convention goes well for Clinton and she gets a good vice presidential choice, she is going to be the front-runner.

She may be a substantial front-runner; we'll have to see how the campaign develops. But I think Democrats are going to have to try awfully hard to lose this election.

MANN: Well, let me ask you, there are people who don't exactly agree with Romney and Whitman's analysis of the situation. Some prominent Republican leaders have more or less rallied to Trump's camp.

And I'm curious, to your mind, why that is.

Do they see some value in his candidacy?

Or are they basically trying to balance between fears, balance between navigating interests? All of the Trump supporters, potentially, versus whatever concerns they may have about an actual Trump presidency.

SABATO: Jonathan, you used the right phrase, "in theory." I would say they haven't rallied behind Trump, they have acquiesced in his nomination because --

[03:10:00]

SABATO: -- they can do nothing about it. Their job is to try to save Congress.

Republicans have both houses. They worked very hard for years to get those houses back. They don't want to lose them.

And so you have the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has said some very critical things of Donald Trump even this past week, still supporting him, in theory.

And Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is doing the same thing. They are on the edge of the fence. They are trying to maneuver between Trump's strong supporters and the party base and their need to elect their threatened members in November. It's not a position to be envied.

MANN: Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia, thanks so much for this.

SABATO: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: And the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is attacking The Donald over Trump University. Hillary Clinton's campaign released a parody ad, mocking the now-defunct business school. Trump is facing three lawsuits alleging that his university was a scam. Here is the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Now you, too, can be a source of Trump's wealth with Trump University.

Just follow these three easy steps.

Step one.

TRUMP: Sign up for Trump University.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Step two, pay for Trump University at the amazing price of everything you have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The instructions include encouraging people who couldn't afford the courses to pay for them with multiple credit cards.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Step three, there is no step three. You won't actually learn anything. It's that easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Now surprisingly Trump is not staying quiet. In Florida, he said Clinton has a bad temperament, that she is, in his words, " a total mess," and that she's not qualified to be president.

Clinton is apparently still having trouble winning over Bernie Sanders supporters, especially younger women. We asked a few of them about their reactions to Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a full-on feminist, I feel I know a lot of my friends who are like, I don't think, from a humanist approach, this is a matter of gender. It's a matter of policies and issues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she tonight, in her speech, talked about this being an historic moment for women.

Do you feel that way? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, yes. Obviously because I'm a woman, so I like, I think it would be great. But it would be great if she had the same ideas as Bernie and just because she is a woman doesn't mean she should automatically win.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember when we couldn't even wear jeans or pants to work or like you go on an interview and they would ask, what does your husband do?

What's that got to do with what you -- or who's going to babysit for you?

Or do you have a car.

So I think we've just raised a lot of spoiled brats, because most of the women that are not for her are Millennials, are Millennials.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Health care for all, that should be a right. It's a human right and you know, free education for everyone, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And (INAUDIBLE) they are very entitled and they're used to receiving a lot of things. And because they are used to receiving a lot of things, that means that it's very appealing to them, his message is very appealing to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Britain celebrates the birth of its longest reigning monarch. An inside look at the royal festivities honoring Queen Elizabeth -- next.

Plus the tide may be turning in the fight against ISIS. Why the terror group is losing ground from Libya to Iraq.

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[03:15:00]

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MANN: Welcome back.

Britain is celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday with a huge spectacle in London this weekend. The country pulled out all the stops for its longest-reigning monarch with three days of festivities filled with pomp and pageantry.

Just look. The queen attended the traditional trooping the color military parade Saturday and concluded the day by greeting the mass of her subjects from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Our Max Foster was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: The day starting with a cavalry, leading the pomp and pageantry that Britain is so famous for. Then the queen appeared in a spectacular neon green outfit. She always says she wants to be seen, to be believed and she certainly achieved that today.

She then headed to horse guards parade to see the trooping of the color. It's an annual event. But this year, had special significance because this is the queen's official 90th birthday, a year of celebration. And she's had three celebrations personally this year, so it's certainly a special year for her, a special year for the country as well.

She headed back to the palace in another carriage procession.

The big question was, would we get to see Princess Charlotte and Prince George on the balcony for that royal family appearance. We always expect that every year. We had it again this year and, indeed, they did appear. One group, one photo, bound to make the front pages of newspapers around the world.

In the background, concerns about security. But the queen always wanting to get as close to the public as she can. And in the end, it went off without a hitch.

And on Sunday, another party, this time for all of her charities. They are going to fill the streets here, all the volunteers that work for those charities and they are going to have lunch together and the queen will wander through -- Max Foster, CNN, Buckingham Palace, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: As Max just mentioned, 10,000 people are expected to attend a street party on the mall in a couple of hours. The event will include a parade of entertainment from years past and the queen will appear on stage while speeches are made in her honor and the national anthem is sung.

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MANN: At the same time, the referendum on Britain's membership in the E.U. and one of the most divisive issues is immigration. Leave campaigners are warning that the English Channel could become the next Mediterranean for migrants. But Remain activists call that scaremongering. Our Kellie Morgan has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLIE MORGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bombardment of headlines, an invasion, they claim. Migrants are coming on small boats. The English Channel could become a mortuary, says leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.

All this after just two boats of Albanian nationals attempted to enter the United Kingdom but enough to stoke fears over a key issue for British voters: immigration.

MAC MCLAUGHLIN, SUSSEX SEA CHARTERS: When you look at a map, you think, oh, that is easy, we can do that in about 10 hours.

MORGAN (voice-over): Mac McLaughlin (ph) is a seasoned skipper and nurse who has navigated these waters for 40 years. He is alarmed by the headlines.

MCLAUGHLIN: The English Channel is notoriously a dangerous place. The cold water, even in the height of summer, you are not going to last long in these water temperatures here. It's about not being faced with the prospects of having -- discovering young bodies floating face down in the water.

MORGAN (voice-over): But are those fears even legitimate?

Thomas Raines (ph), a researcher who specializes on Britain's relationship with the European Union, says no.

THOMAS RAINES (PH), E.U. RESEARCHER: In some parts of the press, we have a hysterical and dysfunctional debate about immigration, particularly E.U. immigration, and those terms, which are very loaded and emotional and divisive are really counterproductive. And what we have is a debate which has become very separated from the facts.

MORGAN (voice-over): These are the images being used in the debate on whether or not Britain should leave or remain in the E.U., images of migrants camped in France, desperate to get to the U.K. But these scenes are not relevant to the debate, says Raines

RAINES: The E.U. debate is really about free movement, which is the right of citizens from other E.U. countries to come and live and work in the U.K., which is entirely separate to the issue of controlling illegal immigration.

MORGAN (voice-over): These beaches and small harbors have long been targeted by smugglers. They are now being targeted by a Leave campaign, trying to --

[03:20:00]

MORGAN (voice-over): -- capitalize on one of Europe's most divisive issues, keen to plunder as many votes as they can before June 23rd -- Kellie Morgan, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: ISIS says it targeted a Shia mosque that is revered by foreign forces supporting the government of Syria. A Syrian opposition group based in the U.K. says twin suicide bombings killed at least 20 people near the Sayyidah Zaynab shrine in Damascus.

Hezbollah militia men and other foreign forces have cited protecting the shrine, said to be the final resting place of a granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad, as one of their main reasons for entering Syria's civil war. The black flag of ISIS is flying over shrinking territory. Ben Wedeman reports on how the group is slowly losing its grip on strongholds across Iraq and Syria and Libya.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: ISIS is now under more pressure than it has been since its creation. In Libya, forces from both the eastern and western parts of the country have stripped ISIS of its control of a stretch of almost 200 kilometers on the Mediterranean coast.

On Saturday, forces from the west said they retook the city or Sirte, a port which is 5 kilometers to the east of the city and they're poised to go into the city proper.

Here in Iraq, Iraqi forces continue to press their offensive to retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS. Fallujah came from under ISIS control, the first major urban center to be taken by ISIS in January 2014.

Since a year and a half, Iraqi forces have retaken from ISIS the cities of Tikrit, Baiji and Ramadi and all that's left under -- firmly under ISIS control is the city of Mosul in the north.

But according to U.S. officials and Iraqi officials, measures are afoot to begin an offensive eventually -- it's not clear when -- to retake that city.

In Syria, Russia is backing Syrian forces who have reentered for the first time in well over a year the province of Raqqah, where of course the city of Raqqah, ISIS' de facto capital, is located.

Elsewhere in the western part of Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have surrounded the town of Manbij, which is northeast of Aleppo, pressing the offensive there.

Of course, the worry is that as ISIS moves its ground and territory, it's striking back. In Syria, two massive bombs in Damascus killing more than 20 people.

On Thursday, there was a suicide bomb and a car bomb in Baghdad. All of them claimed by ISIS, that clearly sees, as it loses on the battlefield, it will resort ever more to terrorism in the cities -- I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: We are going to keep our attention on the Middle East. But meteorologist Derek Van Dam is here to talk about the weather.

There's scorching temperatures these days.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Temperatures are extremely hot, it hit 50 degrees in Kuwait City yesterday.

MANN: Wow.

VAN DAM: Yes. That is incredible, even Atlanta that's impressive.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[03:25:00]

VAN DAM: I'm going to end off with this, because I have also surfed in my life and this is coming out of the coast of Sydney, some awesome footage coming from the Red Bull Cape Fear surfing tournament. This surf contest, they were saying it was verging on the edge of insanity, Jon, 12-foot waves, stormy and choppy sea conditions. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

MANN: Now you surfed in Africa, do you see waves like that there?

VAN DAM: You see waves like this, very similar type of ocean conditions in Cape Town, South Africa, as does Sydney. It's the winter time in that time of the year, and that's when we see the biggest waves.

MANN: Wow, OK. We will be watching for you next time you show this video.

VAN DAM: You can't see my face in that?

(LAUGHTER)

MANN: Derek Van Dam, thanks very much.

The streets of Seoul played host to South Korea's annual gay pride parade Saturday. An estimated 11,000 people waving rainbow flags, marching through the streets, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is still fighting for same-sex marriage in the country. A district court denied the last attempt to change the laws back in May.

And finally in the U.S., a cowboy on his horse came to the rescue of a damsel in distress. Really. A suspected thief was fleeing on the woman's stolen bike when the cowboy grabbed his horse and his rope and lassoed the guy.

The scene straight out of the Wild West actually took place outside a shopping center in Oregon. The hero was a professional cowboy traveling with his horse. He just happened to be passing through to do some shopping and he kept the suspect tied up until police arrived.

Probably wasn't wearing his six-shooter.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Jonathan Mann. "SUPER CHARGED" is next. First, I will be back with your headlines. Stay with us.