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CNN NEWSROOM

Continuing Coverage Of Orlando Nightclub Shooting. Aired 10:30-11a

Aired June 13, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


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[10:33:50] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello live in Orlando, Florida. Thanks so much for joining me. We do have a bit of breaking news to pass along to you. And it may be quite important. We've come to understand that American -- that an American suicide bomber in Syria attended the same mosque as the shooter at the Pulse Nightclub, behind me.

We do not know if they knew one another, our Senior Investigative Reporter Drew Griffin did some digging, he found this out. Drew tell us what you know.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: The spokesperson for the Fort Pierce Islamic Center has confirmed that Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, this 22-year old suicide bomber who killed himself in Syria in 2014 occasionally, he says, attended the same center of prayer as did Omar Mateen. We know Omar Mateen worshipped at this center three or four times a week. So it's not inconceivable the two of them met. But the spokesperson says he had no idea if Mateen and Abu-Salha knew one another.

Abu-Salha of course is from Vero Beach, Florida but for a time, Carol, he did live or reside in or near Fort Pierce, Florida where the Orlando shooter is from. So it's just another piece of the puzzle and could explain why in 2014 the FBI had reason to conduct interviews and do an investigation on the background of Omar Mateen. That maybe this nexus or potential nexus between a suicide, an American-born suicide bomber in Syria, and this same mosque the two men attended, here in Fort Pierce, Florida.

As we continue to dig more information on all of this, the FBI of course is following the same leads as we speak. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, thank you stay there Drew. I want to bring in Peter Bergen, CNN's National Security Analyst. And Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, CNN's Military Analyst. Peter what do you make of this?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's just a -- we knew yesterday that the FBI had been investigating the Orlando shooter's potential links to Moner Abu-Salha who is a Floridian who was self-recruited to Al Qaeda. Conducted a suicide operation for Al Qaeda in Syria in 2014. Now we have, Drew is reporting that they may have attended the same mosque, which I think incrementally moves that a bit farther. But it raises the broader question of course, about these FBI investigations.

Clearly the FBI didn't find enough, what they term derogatory information to keep these cases open. But as I'm sure the House Homeland Security Committee and others will do a report on this, hold hearings. And I'm sure the FBI will have to explain why they decided not to pursue these cases given what we now know.

[10:35:50]

COSTELLO: General could you make sense of that? Because I'm sure many of our viewers are wondering the very same thing.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well I would suggest that as we get more and more involved in the team's forensics -- and the FBI team was there yesterday. They're searching his house, they're finding things. They'll be able to determine the connections between him and many others. When you're talking about the same mosque, that's a coincidence that certainly is very important.

But I think what we're talking about is, when you have information on an individual, how do you continue to drive the intelligence to determine if a crime is committed or the potential for a crime is committed. And again I keep going back to what the FBI may have known, what they may not have known. And they had to drop the case because of higher priorities.

Now that's unacceptable to a lot of Americans. They're saying, "hey, you had this guy in your hand, why did you let him go?" If you don't have anything, you've got to let them go.

COSTELLO: Drew you still with me?

GRIFFIN: Yes I'm still with you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Drew Griffin you still with me?

GRIFFIN: Yes ...

COSTELLO: OK.

GRIFFIN: Yes I am, Carol.

COSTELLO: I -- and I know you've been doing a lot of digging on this. So we know that this American suicide bomber in Syria attended the same mosque as the shooter here in Pulse. We know that the shooter at Pulse bragged about what? I know you've been digging into this guy's background. Supposedly in high school he told people he was related to Osama bin Laden. He bragged at work in a way that led at least one co-worker to leave the job. Because frankly, the shooter scared him. What else do we know about this guy?

GRIFFIN: We're also learning there may have been, may have been an incident in 2006 in which he was involved with a law enforcement training academy. And we're trying to dig into a possible reason to believe that he had to drop out of that school. But there are many of these varying degrees of, I would call, places where he may have snapped verbally.

We're not seeing much violence in his past at all. In fact we dug up the divorce records -- the divorce that was granted in 2011 from his first wife. And there was no mention of any sort of domestic violence or anything like that. What I think is interesting about this mosque, especially for your analysts there, Carol. This is a very, very small community. At most, the imam told me yesterday, they would have 100 or 140 people for Friday prayers. Which would have been their biggest prayer service.

So it's not like it was one of these large mosque communities where somebody could easily fade in and fade out in the background. I think that may also play into this. A very, very small congregation that worshipped in this Fort Pierce Islamic Center.

COSTELLO: And Drew I just want to clarify something you said to our viewers. The Washington Post interviewed the shooter's ex-wife. She said he was violent. Of course that wouldn't be perhaps in the divorce record. And she says though there was a police report filed but no charges. Am I correct in that?

GRIFFIN: That is what she said. We have been unable to retrieve any kind of police record to that effect. And in the only records that we have through the courthouse relating to this person, Omar Mateen, we know in 2006 he changed his name. He added Mateen to the back of his name. And in 2011 when he got a divorce it was a very standard divorce proceeding. Both parties citing irreconcilable differences. And no mention of any kind of domestic abuse or violence.

Now perhaps there was violence but they just chose not to put that in the court records. But often times when we're looking at divorce proceedings, those kind of details of a failed marriage are very much in those court records. Which is why we go and pursue them. They were noticeably absent given the ex-wife's interview that we all listened to.

COSTELLO: All right Drew Griffin, great reporting, thank you so much. We understand that the FBI Director Comey is going to speak at 12:15 Eastern time. That is in just a little over two hours from now. And of course we'll keep you posted. General Mark Hertling, Peter Bergen, Drew Griffin, thanks to all of you. I'll be right back.

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[10:43:35]

Woman: And Our breaking news coverage continues here live from Orlando. Three significant developments to tell you about right now. First of all the Head of the FBI, James Comey, going to be giving a briefing at 12:15 Eastern time. Obviously crucial details going to be in that briefing from the FBI. The first time Director Clomey has spoken in a briefing of this sort. So we're going to be getting that at 12:15.

Also just learning our Drew Griffin reporting a suicide bomber had occasionally attended services at the same mosque that Omar Mateen frequented. And he did, indeed frequent a mosque here in Florida. Omar Mateen the shooter, attending mosque three to four times a week. And attending as recently as just two days ago.

All of this comes as we are learning that he tried to purchase body armor a few weeks ago. Which perhaps means that this act had been planned for a longer period of time than initially suspected. And also indicates that perhaps he wanted to survive this attack.

Joining me now, Rasha Mubarak, the Orlando Regional Coordinator for CAIR Florida, the Council of American-Islamic relations. And Rasha, thank you very much for being with me. Let me just get straight to the question here with this latest reporting, right? That a suicide bomber was attending the same mosque that Omar Mateen attended.

We understand at this time it's unclear if they knew one another. And yet you are hearing about two people coming out of the same mosque. This is deeply troubling for most people who hear this.

RASHA MUBARAK, CAIR ORLANDO COORDINATOR: I mean it's the first I'm hearing about it and it's -- I find it very disturbing. So our hearts are with the community and that mosque, we're not too sure of who attends that mosque. We're not too sure who the shooter was, and no one really knows who he is and I'm sure no one knows who that suicide bomber was, also.

Woman: So I know that that's true. But of course the big question here is, how could this have happened? First of all coming out of the same mosque does raise questions for some. And when you continue a little bit further, the question would be well, is it possible that no one else knew someone who was attending mosque so regularly. That he wouldn't have confided in anyone or acted strangely in any way before this. Obviously anybody who sees something has to say something. Is it possible that that did not happen?

MUBARAK: Well from what I know what's in the Orlando and Central Florida community, and the Muslim community across the nation is that the imams work very closely with law enforcement. The Muslim community has been the leading group for chastising any kind of radicalism and extremism. So I can't imagine that they didn't -- they seen something and didn't say something.

I'm very familiar with how the imams here locally in Central Florida, work very well with law enforcement, FBI, OPD, to make sure and ensure that the mosques -- and moreover and more importantly that this country and this state is safe.

Woman: So you're saying that the imams do have regular communication with law enforcement or the FBI, that that is a regular channel of communication. In other words Rasha what I'm trying to understand is, is it hard or is it easy to raise concerns about somebody?

MUBARAK: As far as the imams are concerned, I can't speak on behalf of the imams and the law enforcement. But I have been into several conversations and the dialogues and there is training. And the imams are trained on how to detect these. The community is -- the community is very fully aware of what can be strange. And I -- the time I've seen, the community has very well informed law enforcement and their leadership at mosques. If they did see anything strange.

Woman: So Rasha, Donald Trump says today that the Muslim community is not doing enough to self-police. Of course you look at San Bernardino, you look at this. When you hear that, what do you say?

[10:47:25]

MUBARAK: Can you repeat that? I'm sorry.

Woman: I was saying Donald Trump is saying the Muslim community is not doing enough to self-police. And of course we look at the horrible attack in San Bernardino, the horrible attack now here in Orlando. When you hear that, what do you say?

MUBARAK: I mean, the Muslim community has, like I said, been the leading advocate group for detecting any kind of radicalism or extremism in the mosques or in the community. And as far as participating in those two events I mean, the whole Muslim community has been donating blood, mobilizing blood drives. We're in communication with law enforcement. There is a gofundme account for the victims and families.

You know, this is -- we're mourning that as Muslim-Americans. We're mourning as Central Floridians. We're Floridians and the peace has been disturbed here in our community in Orlando, Florida where Donald Trump is not present to see the peace and love, the communication that we have. The amazing camaraderie that we do have with the LGBT community here in Central Florida. And we are a part of this sovereign governed (ph) nation. And he needs to realize that and really appreciate that.

Woman: All right well Rasha Mubarak, thank you very much for your time this morning. We appreciate it. And still to come, the 29-year old shooter targeting a gay club. How can America prevent this from happening again? We're going to speak to two gay rights activists next.

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[10:52:10]

COSTELLO: And good morning and welcome back to Orlando, Florida. I'm Carol Costello. A bit of bright news to pass along to you right now. We understand that six people who were injured in Pulse Nightclub have now been released from hospital. And that must mean they're doing OK. 29 people though, remain in the hospital. And as you know, 49 people were killed on that terrible night in the wee hours of last Sunday morning.

The suspect in the case, the shooter, the man behind the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. While his target was Pulse, and that's a well-known, Orlando gay night club. According to family and co- workers, the shooter had expressed anti-gay sentiments. And we'll talk a little bit about that right now. Joining me now is Singer, former congressional candidate, and activist Clay Aiken. Also joining me is Corey Lyons, President of Impulse group, Orlando. A volunteer group that collaborates with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Thanks to both of you for being with me.

AIKEN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Corey, you've been inside Pulse Nightclub. There were 350 people inside that club when the shooting occurred. It seemed to me that people were having trouble getting out of the club. Can you help us understand why?

COREY LYONS, PRESIDENT, IMPULSE GROUP ORLANDO: The infrastructure of that environment is very challenging. The exits, where you have to go, you have to go around a VIP area to get out. Then there's a gate outside. You never really think about this stuff until it happens. And when you realize how easy it was to affect that many people that quickly, you can understand based on the layout of Pulse how that happened.

COSTELLO: Because I know there have been some people who are criticizing the police response. Many, many others say the police were heroes in this case.

LYONS: Right.

COSTELLO: And that's why I'm asking you that question here.

LYONS: I -- police is onsite with Pulse normally on a regular night. I would not be criticizing them for that. I think it's the environment, I think it's a tragedy all around. And I think we're all just trying to recover from this.

COSTELLO: Clay, you say that this was more a hate crime than a terrorist act, am I characterizing that correctly?

CLAY AIKEN, SINGER, ACTIVIST: Listen, I think we all realize that terror has compared to blowing a transmission (ph). This did terrorize the community, this terrorized a nation. So it's terror for that reason. But I think the motivation, whether it is the Islamic terrorist type attack, if the person was motivated by religious belief, anti-American belief, I'm not sure we know. But what is very clear is that this is someone who targeted a very, a very specific population of people.

He didn't go into a regular night club, he specifically went into a gay night club filled with gays and lesbians. He went in -- and even his father has said that he was angry because he saw two men kissing. I, you know, this is a hate crime because this person targeted a very specific group. And it's a group of, a group of people who've been persecuted well before Sunday. You know? And this is something that's an epidemic in this country.

And I think the disservice we do to the memory of those who die when the (INAUDIBLE) is by implying that this person only had these beliefs because he might have been Muslim or because he had an Islamic background. These beliefs are prevalent all over this country. People who are Christian, people who are Jewish, people who have no religion. This homophobia is sort of rampant around America. And it's not fair to scapegoat one religion and say, "oh we don't have this problem because it's always Muslims who are doing this. Look, Islam's so homophobic."

This is a problem we have to address as a country.

COSTELLO: Look Corey I think some people might say, you know we've gone so far in gay rights, right? Marriage is legalized, and it -- so tell us what the real problem of homophobia is in this country. Because I think there are some people who believe that it's not really that big of a problem anymore.

LYONS: I think we are segregated into pockets where we believe so strongly it is not a problem. And we're segregated in areas like the coasts, we're segregated in areas like large cities, L.A., New York, Miami, where we live so freely with these rights that we've fought for. But unfortunately those rights aren't really afforded in the same environments in between.

You know there's a lot of states that still, we're dealing with all the super prides (ph) in the city. In other countries, Missouri, Mississippi, you know a lot of opportunities for us to gain those rights. And it's staggering to see the differences in the gaps between where we are and where we can be.

So I think this is a reminder, you know? This hits home to everybody. New York pride, L.A. pride, Orlando pride, Miami pride. It's more about what we can do to help each other in between that don't have those huge prides yet. And have the rights that everybody's fought for.

AIKEN: What he's saying is there're 29 states in this country right now where a gay man or woman can walk into their job, and their boss find out they're gay/lesbians and fire them. It's legal. I mean we've come a long way. We're celebrating this year a year of marriage equality from the Supreme Court decision. Pride is supposed to be a time when people are celebrating the accomplishments we've made.

But there are still a lot of things that need to be done. And this is a wake-up call that homophobia is not gone and we're segregated (ph).

COSTELLO: Corey, Clay, thanks so much for being with me this morning, I appreciate it. And thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. I'd also like to thank Erin Burnett. AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan after a break.

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