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North Korea Test Fires Two Missiles; Fiery Brexit Debate Plays Out Ahead Of Vote Thursday; Jo Cox's Widower Believes Her Killing Was Political; Clinton: Trump Is "Reckless" And "Dangerous" For Economy; Trump Questions Clinton's Religious Views; Donald Trump Short Of Campaign Cash; Gun Control Measures Fail in Senate; Road to Rio Update; Wildfires in Southern California. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired June 22, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:09] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, a defiant North Korean test fires two intermediate range missiles, both falling to the sea, prompting outrage around the world.

VAUSE: To Brexit or not to Brexit? On the eve of a historic referendum, it appears undecided voters will determine if Britain remains part of the E.U.

WALKER: And Hillary Clinton hitting Donald Trump where it hurts, on his business record, claiming he would do -- he would do to America what he did to his failed casinos.

VAUSE: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.

WALKER: And I'm Amara Walker. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

VAUSE: North Korea has fired two missiles from its eastern coast into the Sea of Japan.

WALKER: South Korea says the first one failed after flying nearly 100 miles. A second missile traveling 250 miles.

WALKER: CNN's Paula Hancocks live in Seoul this hour. And Paula, I guess the concern now is on that second missile. It traveled about 400 kilometers, 250 miles. Is that considered a success?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, John, because South Korea's Defense Ministry officials have not said whether it is a success or a failure. The fact is, though, it appeared to have flown further than previous attempts. Now, this is number six for North Korea. If it in fact it is that Musudan, which it is presumed to be. This is an intermediate-range missile. It's one that North Korea has been in a rush to perfect over recent months, and it has tried six times. Certainly, it is a capability that Kim Jong Un clearly wants North Korea to have. So some experts are now saying this appears that it could be progress. And of course, we have always been hearing that even if these missile tests are failures, North Korea learns something from each one. John --

VAUSE: Very quickly, Paula, these Musudan missiles, if they are in fact Musudan missiles, are a particular concern because they're mobile.

HANCOCKS: Well that's right. It's even more difficult in the height of war to be able to track these down. And also with the range, the lower end of the range takes all of South Korea, all of Japan into consideration. The higher range could actually hit U.S. Military bases in Guam. So certainly it is a concern in the region and also for Washington. John --

VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks live this hour in Seoul.

WALKER: It is the last day of campaigning on whether the U.K. should stay in the European Union.

VAUSE: Thousands attended the final debate on Brexit at Wembley Arena Tuesday night. Nic Robertson reports on the heated exchanges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well this was by far the most lively and fiery debate so far. It was held in the sports arena at Wembley in front of a live audience of about 6,000 people. It was always going to have -- with the cheers and the boos, it was always going to have something of an atmosphere of a sporting event, and that's the way that it played out for the best part. There were three speakers for remain, three speakers for leave. They talked about immigration. They talked about security. They talked about economics. Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, taking on the British Prime Minister, David Cameron's claims that Britain will be better off in the European Union. Boris Johnson saying exactly the opposite.

BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER MAYOR OF LONDON: (inaudible) believe that the remain side cannot think of a single one of the E.U.'s multitude of regulations that they would get rid of, not even the clinical trials directed that prevents vital pharmaceutical work from being carried out. The E.U.'s, I'm afraid, a job-destroying engine. You can see it all across Southern Europe and you can see it alas in this country as well.

ROBERTSON: Now the whole debate lasted about two hours, and it felt like a debate of two halves, judging by the way that the audience reacted, listening to the cheers and the boos. The first half seemed to go with the leave campaign. The remain campaign seemed to get the second half. Sadiq Khan, the current Mayor of London, who took over recently from Boris Johnson, he laid out the position saying that as far as the United States is concerned, as far as the European Union is concerned, as far as NATO is concerned, Britain is safer and better off, more secure inside the European Union.

SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: In fact, all of them are saying we're safer together. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And all of them are also saying that as long as

the European Union keeps trying to copy what NATO does, if the countries across Europe are not paying their two percent of the GDP, which is the NATO contribution, we will be weakening it.

KHAN: Stay and fight. Don't quit!

(CROSSTALK)

Why are you a quitter? We're better than that! We can do it!

[01:05:07] ROBERTSON: Now you could hear some of the cheers there for Sadiq Khan as he was speaking. And this idea of stay and fight, he was echoing what David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, had said earlier in the day. That seems to be the message that they want to resonate with the public at the moment. The remain campaign going for this, stay and fight inside Europe, and the leave campaign saying, take back control and leave. A very fiery debate. Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Now Brendan Cox says he believes his wife Jo was killed because of her political beliefs. The rising star of the Labor Party was stabbed to death out on the street Thursday.

VAUSE: Cox was a vocal supporter of staying in the E.U. and her husband says she was worried about the tone of the campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENDAN COX, HUSBAND OF JO COX: I'll remember so much about her, but most of all, I will just remember that she met the world with love. And both love for her children, love for her family, but also love for people she didn't know. She just approached things with a spirit. She wasn't perfect at all. But she just wanted to make the world a better place and to contribute and we love her very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And we will have much more on the U.K. referendum later this hour, including how a possible British divorce from the E.U. is being received on the streets of Paris.

VAUSE: The race for the White House now, and a CNN/ORC poll finds 51 percent of voters believe Donald Trump would be better at handling the economy compared to Hillary Clinton.

WALKER: Clinton is challenging that notion and pointing out all of Trump's fiscal failures, calling him reckless and dangerous for the nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A few days ago, he said, and I quote, I'm going to do for the country what I did for my business. So let's take a look at what he did for his business. He's written a lot of books about business. They all seem to end at chapter 11.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Democratic strategist, Dave Jacobson, and Republican consultant, John Thomas, join us now for more on this. OK, this was an all-out assault on what many see as Trump's biggest success, one of his strengths, his business skills. And here Clinton went after Trump for outsourcing jobs to other countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Trump's own products are made in a lot of countries that aren't named America. Trump ties are made in China. Trump suits in Mexico. Trump furniture in Turkey. Trump picture frames in India. Trump barware in Slovenia. And I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And just a few hours ago, Trump specifically responded to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And you know why? Because they devalue their currencies and they make it impossible for companies to compete. And she doesn't have to say that because I say it all the time. I say, unfortunately, my ties are made in China. And I will say this -- the hats, make America great again, I searched long and hard to find somebody that made the hats in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, the hats are made in America. That's good to know. But John, how long can Trump keep saying, hey, it was just business, it's just business?

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Well look, this is his strength. And there's a reason -- Hillary Clinton is throwing the kitchen sink at Donald Trump. The week before, it was that his foreign policy is dangerous. And now she's trying to undermine him on his one perceived strength. I think she's going to have a tough time doing that at the end of the day, and here's why -- because she's never created a job in her life. And at the end of the day, Donald Trump and the voters understand that businesses -- businessmen have a lot of businesses, but Donald Trump knows how to create jobs.

WALKER: And we will hear a more comprehensive response from Trump come Wednesday. To you, Dave, just after the speech by Clinton, Trump campaign launched this website, lyingcrookedhillary.com, saying this website's going to showcase her disastrous lies. That page is blank right now the last time we checked, but are you concerned that these labels, these insults that Trump throws at his opponents are sticking, especially when you look at Clinton's unfavorability ratings and obviously this e-mail scandal that she's embroiled in, isn't really helping her credibility either?

DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right, look, her unfavorable rating is hovering around 55 percent, but Donald Trump's is at 70 percent. I think she understands fundamentally that she's got to sort of mirror Barack Obama's 2012 strategy against Mitt Romney, going in early, defining her opponent, hitting hard, and hitting often. And that's precisely what she did two weeks ago with her foreign policy speech and that's precisely what she did today on the economic front.

THOMAS: And it's remarkable that her negatives are so high despite Donald Trump just tripping over himself. Donald Trump really has not gone negative yet.

[01:10:08] VAUSE: OK, so this line of attack from Hillary Clinton, it's very similar to the one they used in 2012 against Mitt Romney. He got rich by crushing the little guy. And again, Clinton tried to link Trump to businessman to Trump the possible president.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CLINTON: He bankrupted his companies not once, not twice, but four times. Hundreds of people lost their jobs. Shareholders were wiped out. Contractors, many of them small businesses, took heavy losses. Many went bust. But Donald Trump, he came out fine. Here's what he said about one of those bankruptcies. I figured it was the bank's problem, not mine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Dave, I thought this one was particularly effective because it seems what she's doing here is going after Trump because he's campaigned on being the outsider, the guy who's going to stick up for those who are doing it tough.

JACOBSON: Yes, look, I think she's trying to undercut his message, because John, you're absolutely right. Jobs and the economy has been one of his strengths, at least in the primary campaign. We are seeing a shift, though. Monmouth University today put out a poll showing Hillary Clinton actually performing better on that issue than Donald Trump. She's at 47 percent to his 44 percent. And so we're seeing a shift. And I think part of that is because of these attacks. She's really sort of painting the picture that this is a guy who's out for himself. He's a greedy fat cat millionaire who shipped jobs overseas for Trump clothing, he's scammed and committed fraud with Trump University, and he's gone bankrupt several times.

THOMAS: This is a dangerous moment for Donald Trump, because right now, if he doesn't regain control of the narrative, voters will buy into Hillary's frame that he exploits the worker, exploits the little man, what they did to Mitt Romney. What Donald Trump has to convince the American electorate is that, yes he's a billionaire, but he's a blue-collar billionaire. He understands what it's like for the working man and he's created more jobs than he's hurt.

WALKER: I want to pick up on a point, though, that you brought up earlier, John, about polling. Clinton has ten times the number of staff in her campaign and she has a much bigger war chest than Trump has. Don't you think? Let me ask this to you, Dave, that Clinton should be polling better right now. She is ahead, I think, on average by seven points. And with all these resources, shouldn't she be way more ahead than she is now?

JACOBSON: Look, I think it's largely a function of trends. And we've seen sort of a shift in the last two weeks. Once she's sort of beginning to unify the party, once Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden endorse and she's corralling support from Democrats, some of the Bernie Sanders folks, we're starting to see a trend. It's not just seven points in one poll. Bloomberg last week had her up 12 points. So I think we've seen a transition and I think that transition is going to continue to grow as long as the Trump campaign remains this disarray.

THOMAS: He's absolutely got a problem. The fact that Donald Trump is getting crushed in the money games, the ad wars. He has to figure out how to make that up. But here's what I would tell Donald Trump if he's watching, is that --

VAUSE: He watches us all the time. He's tweeting about it right now.

THOMAS: I'm sure he is. But the opportunity (ph) is in the problem here. The fact that he's so dramatically being outraised, he needs to use that to highlight the fact that Hillary Clinton has taken more money from Wall Street than any presidential candidate in U.S. History and remind Bernie Sanders people of why they disliked Hillary Clinton.

VAUSE: Funny you should say that, because Clinton also warned today that Trump would undo Wall Street reform. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Trump would take us back to where we were before the crises. He'd rig the economy for Wall Street again. Well, that will not happen on my watch. I can guarantee you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And John, to your point, this is one area where Hillary Clinton could be on thin ice.

THOMAS: Very thin ice. POLITICO ran a story earlier this week that said, her Wall Street donors said you can't choose Elizabeth Warren as your VP because Hillary, we know you don't believe the anti-Wall Street rhetoric, whereas Elizabeth Warren actually might -- I think it's very thin and it will bring up the idea that she won't release her Wall Street speeches. I wouldn't go that route. There are many other places to attack Donald Trump.

WALKER: At an evangelical meeting of pastors, Trump brought this up about Clinton's faith. I want to have us listen to that first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: -- anything about Hillary in terms of religion. She's been in the public eye for years and years. And yet there's no -- there's nothing out there. There's like nothing out there. It's going to be an extension of Obama but it's going to be worse because with Obama, you had your guard up. With Hillary, you don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I mean, this isn't the first time we've heard Trump question someone's faith. We've heard him question President Obama's faith, including Mitt Romney's faith, is he really a Mormon, I think that's what he said. Why does Trump continue to go there? Dave, I'll let you answer that.

JACOBSON: He's a conspiracy theorist. The reality is, people are shifting away from Donald Trump because they can't believe him anymore. He said that the Orlando shooter the other day was from Afghanistan, when he knew full well that the guy was from Brooklyn, New York. And so the reality is, he says these sort of extreme, radical things about people's religions or about where people are from throughout this campaign and I think people are starting to not believe what he's saying anymore.

[01:15:11] THOMAS: This is exactly why Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager, needed to be fired. Moments like this. This is not running a tight, disciplined campaign. There's plenty of things to attack Hillary Clinton on. Let's not get off on these --

VAUSE: He was pandering. Let's face it. That's the bottom line. He does it all the time. He's pandering to the crowd. He thought that's what they wanted to hear.

THOMAS: But he didn't need to go that far.

VAUSE: Exactly. Talk to you next hour. Thanks, guys.

WALKER: Good to see you, guys. We're going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll have more from the race for the White House, including why Donald Trump's campaign is strapped for cash.

VAUSE: Plus new efforts to expand gun control following the Orlando shooting massacre. But does this latest bill even have a chance?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm Michael Holmes, and this is your ROAD TO RIO update. The International Olympic Committee paved the way for some Russian athletes t ocompete in Rio. Last week, the International Association of Athletics Federations banned Russia from competing for doping offences. The IOC upheld that ban, but announced that individual athletes, who could be cleared of doping by the IAAF, or a court of arbitration, will be able to compete under the Russian flag.

World class track coach, Jama Aden, was arrested in a hotel in Spain where he and 30 athletes on his training team were staying, police raiding the hotel as part of an anti-doping operation. Aden, who coaches the female 1,500-meter world record holder and other high- profile athletes is charged with distributing and administering doping substances.

And, Australian Olympic authorities say they want greater security for their athletes in Rio, this after six-time Australian Paralympian, Liesl Tesch, and team member, Sarah Ross, were robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight. Security remains a concern ahead of the games. Some 20 masked gunmen raided a Rio hospital in a deadly shootout over the weekend. That is your ROAD TO RIO update. I'm Michael Holmes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. Donald Trump is working in overdrive, trying to reassure Republicans he is running a legitimate presidential campaign.

[01:19:56] This comes after some dismal fund-raising number from the presumptive GOP nominee. Senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Despite a lifetime of cutting deals that made him billions of dollars, Donald Trump is so short of campaign cash, GOP jaws are dropping. But don't worry, says Trump.

TRUMP (via telephone): This weekend, we had a very big fund-raising weekend. It's not revealed yet, but we raised a lot of money.

ACOSTA: Still, consider the numbers. According to federal campaign filings, Hillary Clinton finished the month of May with $42 million in the bank. Trump ended up with a tiny fraction of that haul, just 1.3 million. Other glaring findings this month, 17 percent of the campaign spending was dished out to Trump-related entities, like when the campaign rents space from a Trump property for an event. And $35,000 went to something called Draper Sterling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) strategy, it's exactly what they wanted.

ACOSTA: An expenditure with the name reminiscent of the advertising agency in the hit show, "Mad Men". Trump released a statement on his fundraising noting his appeals to donors are just beginning, adding, if need be, there could be unlimited cash on hand as I would put up my own money. Earlier in the day, he blamed Republicans who haven't rallied behind his campaign.

TRUMP (via telephone): They don't want to come on. They will probably eventually come on. Honestly, if they don't, it's just fine. I can win it either way.

ACOSTA: Nothing to see here, added the RNC.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate everyone's concern over the state of our party. We're doing just great.

ACOSTA: Trump is signaling a more aggressive stage of the campaign is just ahead. His campaign is blasting out e-mails and hitting social media to counter Clinton's latest attacks, responding faster than it has before. Trump advisers are hopeful it's a change for the better, with the firing of Campaign Manager, Corey Lewandowski. The candidate was also out shoring up support among evangelical leaders gathered in New York.

TRUMP: Christianity, I owe so much to it in so many ways, through life, through having incredible children, to so many other things. By I also owe it, for frankly standing here, because the evangelical vote was mostly gotten by me.

ACOSTA: And Donald Trump has a speech set for tomorrow aimed at Hillary Clinton right here in New York City. His campaign has also set up a website called lyingcrookedhillary.com, but the campaign acknowledges it's not even ready yet and won't be up and run for a few days. Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: All right. Joining us now is Lanhee Chen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a lecturer at Stanford University. He served as policy director for former presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the 2012 campaign. Lanhee, welcome to the program. Let's start with what's been making headlines first, and that's of course Trump's really puny war chest, at least in comparison to Clinton's money-raising machine. And that has essentially sparked this hashtag #TrumpSoPoor trend on Twitter. I want to show you some of those tweets. #TrumpSoPoor even his fact check bounced. #TrumpSoPoor he has listed Governor Christie at Ebay. And #TrumpSoPoor he's been forced to scale back his Mexican wall to a "stay off my lawn" sign. So Lanhee, let's be fair here, though, because isn't that what Trump's appeal is about, that he isn't beholden to major donors and lobbyists? Isn't this going to play well with his base?

LANHEE CHEN, RESEARCH FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: I do think it's part of his appeal. I think the challenge, though, is that he continually talks about wanting to self-fund his campaign. Even today in that package you just showed he talked about being able to have a multimillion-dollar campaign at the snap of a finger. But it's going to be very hard to convince donors to put up their money if Donald Trump's unwilling to put up his. And so I think that is part of the dynamic. That's part of the challenge he's dealing with.

WALKER: Yes, let's listen to that sound, Trump speaking to ABC where he's saying that self-funding is still a possibility for the general election for him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No, she's getting her money from the Wall Street guys and all the special interests. And I really don't -- I'll be honest. I've never raised money before for this because I've never done it before. I think I'd be very good at it. As far as I'm concerned, I'd be very happy to continue to self-fund.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to continue to self-fund? TRUMP: I may because to me --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much?

TRUMP: I don't know, I can do whatever I want. She's going to spend $1.2 billion on an election, and I'm trying to say, where do you spend that money?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: So Lanhee, as you were saying, let's pick it up from there. I guess you would say it's not exactly realistic that Trump could run this -- a pretty efficient campaign by self-funding. This could cost him in the general election, right?

CHEN: Yes, I mean, look, if Trump wanted to self-fund, he could self- fund a campaign. I mean, presumably he could, at least that's what he says. I think the challenge, though, is that thus far, it doesn't appear as though that's what he wants to do in the general election. So for Republican donors, I think it's a very difficult dynamic. The other issue is, it doesn't appear as though he's put together a real campaign infrastructure, at least hasn't really started to do so until recently, and he's getting outspent on digital and TV advertising which is really traditionally the best way that presidential candidates can make voter contact. So for all those reasons, I think people are skeptical.

[01:25:07] WALKER: Yes, and for those reasons that you mentioned, major GOP donors have been very reluctant to contribute to contribute to Trump's campaign. Is it too late for him to try to get them on board? What does he have to do?

CHEN: Look, donors always love a winner. So it's never too late, I suppose, for him to raise the money. I do think there is a lot of skepticism in the donor community. I've spent time with a number of major donors here over the last several weeks, and I think they all say the same thing, which is first of all, they don't believe Donald Trump can win, and second of all, they're concerned that he's going to do lasting damage to the Republican brand. So it's going to be very difficult at some level to convince donors, even those who want to win badly, to go with somebody who they perceive as being bad for the brand in the long run.

WALKER: Also, there's this new stop-Trump movement that's under way, and "The Washington Post" is reporting that. This includes the support of 400 Republican delegates. And so basically, the proposal is to change the rules at the RNC so that the pledged delegates can essentially vote their conscience, vote for whoever they want, or write in a candidate. So clearly the Republicans are not unified at a very critical time just weeks before the Republican National Convention. What happens from here? Especially when you have so many divisions just right before this convention.

CHEN: I think there are a lost divisions. I think that analysis is right. I think what people don't realize is that the Republican National Convention is a delegate-driven convention. It's a delegate- driven process. So if enough delegates decide that, you know, Donald Trump should not be the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, that would lead to a whole set of actions that potentially could change the outcome. Now, it's very unlikely that happens. I really do question how well organized this movement is. But it's clear there are divisions. There are a lot of people who are unsatisfied with how Donald Trump has conducted his campaign, and how he's conducted himself as a presumptive Republican nominee. So I would expect to continue to see some of this disagreement and dissension in the ranks.

WALKER: Yes, a lot of concern from outside about the Trump's campaign infrastructure, of course, and the fundraising, and the rhetoric. Lanhee Chen, good to have you on the program. Thanks for your time.

CHEN: Thank you.

VAUSE: OK. We will take a short break. When we come back, a polarizing issue and an impassioned debate. Coming up, the countdown to the U.K.'s crucial vote.

WALKER: Also, raging wildfires are scorching parts of Southern California. We'll have details on the damage they have caused. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:23] VAUSE,: Welcome back everybody. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles where it is 10:30 on a Tuesday night. I'm John Vause.

WALKER: And I'm Amara Walker.

The headlines this hour, North Korea has launched two intermediate range missiles from its coast into the Sea of Japan. South Korea says the first one failed after flying nearly 100 miles on Wednesday. The second missile fired about two hours later, and that's still being investigated.

VAUSE: In the race for the White House, Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump would be reckless and dangerous to the US economy. She cited his multiple corporate bankruptcies. A new CNN/OIC poll finds 51% of voters think Trump would be better at handling the economy.

WALKER: And the latest campaign filings show Trump is short on raising money. His campaign had 1.3 million dollars at the end of May compared to Clinton's 42 million. Trump also spent 17% of his campaign money on his own businesses.

VAUSE: And we are into the final hours on campaigning on whether the UK should remain in the European Union.

WALKER: A fiery debate at London's Wembley Arena Tuesday night underscored just how deeply divided the country is about Thursday's referendum. On the leave side former London mayor Boris Johnson insisted the EU is bad for British business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER LONDON MAYOR: The remain side cannot think of a single one of the EU's multitude of regulations that they would get rid of, not even the clinical trials directive that prevents vital pharmaceutical work from being carried out. The EU is I'm afraid, a job-destroying engine, and you can see it all across southern Europe and you can see it alas in this country as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Prime Minister David Cameron appealing to voters to think about the negative impact that brexit would have on future generations.

WALKER: In a last minute push for votes he said if the UK leaves its neighbors would go on making important economic decisions without British involvement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Brits don't quit. We get involved. We take a lead. We make a difference. We get things done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Live from London now, chief UK political correspondent for Politico Tom McTague. Tom, thanks for being with us. Given the infighting within his own party right now, David Cameron prevents damaged goods regardless of the outcome of the referendum?

TOM MCTAGUE, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: It could well be. I mean it depends entirely on the results. At the moment we really don't know. It's far, far closer than David Cameron ever expected it would be. I mean, at this point he was hoping to have a comfortable margin going into tomorrow's vote. And he would come home with a comfortable win, and he could put the issue to bed, and he could move on, and he could say to his rebels, no, you've had your referendum, and you're going to have to forget it now. That is not what's happened. You know it is really, really close here.

It is sort of 50/50, the remain side are slight, slight favorites, but it is only very, very slight. The last poll was 50.05 to 49.05, so you know, the margins are tiny. So it's all about turnout now.

VAUSE: Sorry to interrupt, but all of this started with a campaign promise David Cameron made back in 2013. At the time it seemed like a real risk move, to try to calm the anti-European members of his own party, fend off the anti-immigration party UKIP. Some say though he should have never promised this referendum in the first place. It was irresponsible. Where do you stand on that?

MCTAGUE: Well I mean it's a point of view, but it's looking back with hindsight. David Cameron won a surprise victory just last year. At that point he was described as you know, sort of a political genius. He somehow has beaten the odds, he had seen off the labor party, and he had the first conservative majority in 20 years. So you know he was flying high a year ago, and now one of the reasons he was able to win that election a year ago is turning around to bite him. So I don't know. It's a hard one. I mean certainly the apocalyptic predictions he is making now about how bad this would be for the UK and for the west in general, it make you think why did you put it at risk in the first place?

VAUSE: Exactly. You mentioned the polling. You said it's incredibly close right now. But we're being told the poll numbers are just really unreliable. Why is that?

MCTAGUE: Well, at the last general election no polls predicted that David Cameron was going emerge with a conservative majority. Most people thought there was a reasonable good chance that the labor party would win. The pollsters all got it wrong. And this time the pollsters are all over the place. A week ago we had support for brexit, according to a few polls, running at something like 6 or 7 points ahead of remain. You know, this set Downing Street into a complete panic. But now they are back at sort of even keel. Go back a month, and the remain campaign was looking at sort of a 60/40 victory. So what are the polls showing us? Nobody knows. We don't know about the don't knows, we don't know about the turnout. We don't know how strong people feel, whether they secretly want brexit or whether they secretly want to remain. Whether they're scared. It really is a case of waiting to see tomorrow night.

VAUSE: Ok and that is what we shall do. Tom, thanks for getting up early. We appreciate you coming in.

WALKER: So Europe is looking on nervously as the brexit vote fast approaches.

VAUSE: CNN's Will Ripley hit the streets of Paris to find out how the French feel about the debate raging across the channel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Summer in the city of white means outdoor cafes, selfies on the send, strolls along the Champs-Elysees. Most Parisians are not preoccupied with the looming brexit vote, but some are nervous.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: I am a little bit worried about it, yes. I think it will be a pity if this cohesion would disappear.

UNKNOWN MALE: I would like them to stay. More likely. Because even if it is difficult, I think we build something very nice.

RIPLEY: The headlines portray Europe and Britain as a marriage on the rocks, at least on the continent, few seem ready to divorce. Some of the French press think it's incredible Britain would even consider leaving the EU. This is one of the more colorful headlines and illustrations here. It reads The English. They're Mad. And the French economy minister told the newspaper Le Monde that Britain would quickly become a small, isolated island.

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RIPLEY (VOICEOVER): While Prime Minister Manuel Valls says Britain leaving the EU would be a terrible shock. At the Petite Valette this statue of Winston Churchill pays tribute to his wartime leadership and vision of a European family but a family feud is deepening.

FRENCH PRIME MINISTER MANUEL VALLS: You don't want to see the disintegration of Europe and what it can lead to. We have a memory of the past.

RIPLEY: French author and veteran commentator Dominique Moisi says British voters have a huge responsibility.

DOMINIQUE MOISI: A responsibility that goes much beyond Great Britain. Much beyond Europe. It is the west at large that is at stake.

RIPLEY: This increasingly fractured Europe is reflect4d in the views of football fans here for euro 2016. These men from Northern Ireland say they want the UK to leave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Britain will be bullied by Europe. Should we remain like an adulterous husband is taken back to the wife?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Northern Ireland and Britain are putting in more money than we're getting out of Europe.

RIPLEY: German fans say they're rooting for Britain to remain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to take into account that the economic power will decrease, unemployment will increase.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Britain should stay. Because it will be a disaster for whole Europe whether we be out.

RIPLEY: By the end of this week, British football teams may still be in Europe, but their country could be on the way out. Will Ripley, CNN, Paris.

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WALKER: All right next on NEWSROOM LA. Four different gun control bills have failed to pass the Senate. Why some hope a new Republican proposal could bring a different result.

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WALKER: The US Attorney General is offering one million dollars to Florida in the wake of the Orlando terror attack. Loretta Lynch traveled to the city Tuesday with emergency funding to help the state. She met with some of the survivors and got an update on the investigation from law enforcement.

VAUSE: Officials tell CNN Omar Mateen went to the nightclub hours before killing 49 people, wounding 50 others. Investigators believe he may have been checking club security.

WALKER: With the Orlando terror attacks still fresh on peoples' minds, a Republican senator is introducing a new gun control proposal aimed at getting bipartisan support. Susan Collins' bill would block gun sales to anyone in the US on a narrow list of possible terrorists.

VAUSE: The proposal comes today after the Senate rejected four different gun control measures to enforce stricter background checks, curb sales to those on terrorism lists. The National Rifle Association called the proposal from Collins unconstitutional.

WALKER: Joining us now is Richard Feldman. He is the president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association and the former regional political director of the NRA. Thank you for your time. America holds a distinction when it comes to mass shootings and daily gun violence. It's a uniquely American phenomenon. There are more gun owners in the United States than anywhere else in the world. More than 30,000 people die from guns every year in the US. I want to show you some statistics here. We have a graphic for our audience. The US, as you see there, has way more gun homicides than any country in the world. So my question to you Richard is why is that? Why does America stand alone when it comes to gun violence? Isn't a common denominator the prevalence and accessibility of guns?

RICHARD FELDMAN, PRESIDENT INDEPENDENT FIREARM OWNERS ASSOCIATION: Well that's like saying if you lived in a society without automobiles, there would be no people that would be run down or there would be no drunk driving accidents because people don't have cars.

WALKER: But you're not comparing apples to apples. You're not comparing apples to apples. The purpose of a car is for transportation to transport a person from one location to the other. The sole purpose of a gun is to kill. That's it.

FELDMAN: Really? Really? Is that it? You mean I own all those guns and I'm intending to kill people? That's the sole purpose? Do you really mean that?

WALKER: What's the purpose of owning a gun to defend yourself, right? Or hunt.

FELDMAN: I own firearms and I use them for sport, for recreation, I use them for self defense. But the purpose of the gun...

WALKER: What do you do with the gun when you use it for sport?

FELDMAN: I shoot, I skeet, I go to the range and I punch holes in paper targets. I collect them. I have never shot anyone. My guns haven't gone off in the middle of the night and gone out and shot and killed anyone. They're under my control. I am the responsible individual, and yes, my guns have been used by me to protect myself on several occasions.

WALKER: So if the focus shouldn't be guns, what should be? Mental health issues?

FELDMAN: Well I'd say there is no involvement in firearms. I'm saying what are the alternatives? There are a hundred million firearm owners in this country today. You're not going to take the peoples' guns away from them, so if those guns are out there, how are we going to do a better job of keeping the guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them? Background checks have a purpose, and they've been useful to a degree. The mistake we make in this country is when we prevent someone from obtaining a firearm from one source, we congratulate ourselves as though we've succeeded in preventing them from getting guns from another source. WALKER: Right. And you talk about expanded background checks. You

worked with the NRA, and we know the NRA has pushed back and is opposed to expanded background checks even though a poll by Pew Research has shown recently that 85% of Americans, Democrats and Republicans support expanded background checks, yet we have a congress here in the United States that seems to be as critics would say, answering to the NRA, a very powerful lobby group than the voice of the people. So why would congress not pass measures that would expand background checks?

FELDMAN: You know, we don't run this country on the basis of polls, number one. Number two, the only poll that ever matters in American politics is the poll on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That's the important poll.

WALKER: and you say this country is not run by polls except for in a general election that is coming up in November, but I think critics would argue well you know when you talk about running the country it seems like the NRA has a strong hold on the people who do run the country.

FELDMAN: You talk about NRA as though they were an individual. The NRA is a group of five million, dues-paying Americans, myself included. We don't all always agree on the same things, but when you disagree with a group that plays the game very effectively in American politics, and former congressman Barney Frank has said many times, when you downplay the role that they have and the fact that they are very good at working this democracy of ours, what one is really saying is I don't like democracy if I can't win. If you have an opponent that is better at this process than you are, you can't say, Gee, that's unfair, they're too powerful, they're too strong. No. Your job in a democracy is then to be able to do it back again and be better at it, and not whine and complain.

WALKER: Richard Feldman, we appreciate your time and your perspective. Thanks so much for joining us.

FELDMAN: Thank you.

VAUSE: Next here on NEWSROOM LA. The scorching heat here in California is not helping crews braving wildfires. The very latest in a moment.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello everyone, I'm Michael Holmes, and this is your Road to Rio update. The International Olympic Committee paved the way for some Russian athletes to compete in Rio. Last week the Internal Association of Athletics banned Russia from competing for doping offenses. The IOC upheld that ban but announced that individual athletes who could be cleared of doping by the IAAF or a court of arbitration would be able to compete under the Russian flag.

World class track coach Jama Aden was arrested in a hotel in Spain where he and 30 athletes on his training were staying. Police said raiding the hotel was part of an anti-doping operation. Aden, who coaches the female 1,500 meter world record holder and other high profile athletes is charged with distributing and administering doping substances.

And Australian Olympic authorities say they want greater security for their athletes in Rio, this after six-time Australian paralympian Liesl Tesch and team member Sarah Ross were robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight. Security remains a concern ahead of the games. Some 20 masked gunmen raided a Rio hospital in a deadly shootout over the weekend. That is your Road to Rio update. I'm Michael Holmes.

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VAUSE: Crews here in southern California are dealing with another raging wildfire. This one in San Gabriel Canyon has already consumed about 1,500 acres.

WALKER: Clouds of smoke could be seen from nearby Dodger Stadium. Crews have the strip of fire 62% contained, but LA County fire officials say the fish fire is still growing.

VAUSE: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us with more on this. So it's hot here, and these fires, at least one of them are out of control.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There are a couple of them too, as you guys said. So this is something of course over the next couple of days. It's really going to be something to watch carefully. If you take a look, not just confined to California. Much of the southwestern United States dealing with extensive fires in place. As you go into southern California on the western side of the state really, you have predominant fires and places like the fish fire there across portions of the Los Angeles area, 2500 acres consumed, zero percent containment, working its way out towards the reservoir fire, approaching 1,000 acres, also zero percent containment. And you see how we got here, right? Record temperatures in recent days in fact. The hottest temperatures in the world, in fact the two hottest temperatures in the world have been across eastern California and Death Valley on Tuesday comes in at a 123 degree reading after a 126 a day earlier. Their low temperatures are in the mid-nineties across that region. Even off towards Needles temps only cooling off to the low nineties in the overnight hours. And when you look at the soil across this region, not surprising to see the soil moisture guys, is sitting around 10% of normal. Again, bone dry conditions. Literally a tinderbox. A vehicle is in one of these fires that just went off the road in an accident and sparked the fire that's currently out of control across this region. Of course you look at the varied terrain, and this is why it's such a difficult fire to contain. These sort of terrain, with about a 10 degree sloped increase, your winds, your fire containment speed begins spreading rapidly. So at a 10 degree increase in slope the fire is actually spreading at about twice the scale of a no-slope sort of a fire situation. Notice the marine influence is coming back in the picture here in the next couple of days. We expect the temperatures to want to begin to cool off around the Sherpa fire region. Temps down to the 70s and 80s Fahrenheit so we're talking the mid-20s Celsius there. Humidity has increased just a little bit, and that's rally going to help the fire situation across southern California with improvement there on the coast at least of that area guys.

WALKER: Dry and hot as always, and it's fire season right now in southern California.

VAUSE: It's cooled off a little, some humidity coming.

WALKER: Something to look forward to.

VAUSE: You've been watching CNN NEWSROOM Live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

WALKER: And I'm Amara Walker. John and I will be back with another hour of news right after this.

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