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CNN NEWSROOM

Cincinnati Zoo Staffers Kill Rare Gorilla to Save Child; Interview with Senator Bob Casey; Rubio Apologized to Trump; Trump's Conspiracy Theories; Interview with Gary Sinise; Long-Distance Skateboarder Breaks World Records. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 29, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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


[17:00:24] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Great to have you with me. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. And we begin with the tragic and terrifying story that is blowing up all over social media right now. A little kid, an enormous wild animal and the painful decision made to save that child's life.

Staffers of the Cincinnati Zoo shot one of their endangered gorillas this weekend, a 400-pound male who was holding and dragging a 4-year- old boy who had somehow climbed into tat gorilla's habitat. The boy has since been released from the hospital. The gorilla is dead.

Now you are about to see this shocking video of the gorilla and the boy together. And then I'm going to talk with animal expert Jack Hannah about what happened here and how people are now weighing in from all across the country, either critical of this little boy's parents, supportive of the zoo's drastic measures, or outraged at what they are now calling the senseless and needless death of a rare gorilla.

CNN's Jessica Schneider first with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A day of panic and desperation at the Cincinnati Zoo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is at the Cincinnati Zoo, and this is in a gorilla cage, and a 3-year-old child has fallen into the gorilla cage.

SCHNEIDER: A 4-year-old boy slips into the zoo's gorilla habitat and over a moat wall. Suddenly Harambe, a 17-year-old, 400-pound gorilla, approaches the boy. His mother watches in horror at what happens next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mommy is right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, everybody, back up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mommy loves you. Mommy's right here.

SCHNEIDER: The young boy screams and the urgent calls to 911 can be heard on this bystander video.

Harambe drags the boy around the moat and up a ladder for a total of 10 minutes as the zoo's dangerous animal response team anxiously decides what to do next.

KIM O'CONNOR, WITNESS: The little boy himself had already been talking about wanting to go in, go in, get in the water. And his mother is like, no, you're not. No, you're not. I don't know if the screaming did it or too many people hanging on the edge, if he thought we were coming in, but then he, you know, pulled the boy down further away from the big group.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine 32. The gorilla has the child and it dragged him around the pen.

SCHNEIDER: Officials considered the incident very threatening, deciding Harambe must be taken down immediately.

THANE MAYNARD, DIRECTOR, CINCINNATI ZOO: The reason that tranquilizing was not chosen is in an agitated situation, which the male was, it may take quite a while for a tranquilizer to take effect. But certainly, the instance he would be hit, he'd have a dramatic response. You don't hit him, he falls over. It would take a few minutes. The child wasn't under attack but all sorts of things could happen in a situation like that. So he certainly was at risk.

SCHNEIDER: They say their only option, a rifle. Harambe was shot and killed. The child was taken to Cincinnati's Children's Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have rescued the child. Children's has been notified for a trauma.

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

SCHNEIDER: Harambe was a western lowland gorilla, a critically endangered species. The zoo had hoped he would eventually father other gorillas.

PATRICIA HARVEY, WITNESS: We love this zoo. It's very friendly. And everything is beautiful here. But when you see something like that and then you have the disappointment because how -- what do you say to your grandchildren?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: Cincinnati Zoo officials stressed they had to act quickly. In fact Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard released this statement today saying, "We are heartbroken about losing Harambe but a child's life was in danger and a quick decision had to be made by our dangerous animal response team."

That response team was first calling out the gorillas outside of the exhibit but only two females responded. Harambe didn't and they say that if they used tranquilizers it would have taken too long so they had to take that deadly action. The 4-year-old boy meanwhile has been released from the hospital and is at home tonight. -- Ana.

CABRERA: Thank goodness that little boy is OK. But what a tragic situation all around. That video unbelievable.

[17:05:03] Jessica Schneider, reporting in Cincinnati. Our thanks to you.

Now a woman we talked just a few moments ago saw that whole thing open -- happening with her own eyes and she said that massive gorilla became curious after people started shouting at the boy after he dropped into that animal's habitat. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY PERKINS O'CONNOR, WITNESS: Dragged the child a little further down in the moat. And he stopped for a little bit, almost looked like he was helping him, you know, pulled his pants up. Stood him up. And then all of a sudden everyone started screaming again. And he pulled him completely out, down the other end of the moat. He was being very aggressive. The boy did try to separate himself and he pulled the boy back in, tucked him underneath and really wasn't going to let him get away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: On the phone with me now, one of America's foremost zoo animal experts, Jack Hanna, TV personality and director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo.

Jack, thanks for joining us. First, I just want to ask, what was your reaction to what happened in Cincinnati?

JACK HANNA, DIRECTOR EMERITUS, COLUMBUS ZOO: Well, it is a reaction that, you know, my heart goes out to them right now. Thank God the child is alive. Real quickly, at the Columbus Zoo, the first gorilla born in the world here, the first (INAUDIBLE) is born in the world here so we know gorillas. We have the oldest living gorilla in the world here. So we know much about gorillas. I filmed gorillas in Gavan which is a species that low gorilla. We also have a little house in Rwanda where the mountain gorillas are.

So for 30 years now I have studied gorillas and went with them both in the wild and in the zoo world. I can tell you now, the power of this gorilla, beyond anything -- no one has really mentioned this. I have seen a gorilla, the silver back like you talked about, the male, pick up a green coconut and squish it like a marshmallow. If you know anything about a green coconut.

CABRERA: Wow.

HANNA: You got -- for example, it's like a rock. So what I'm saying, when I saw the gorilla's face, the first video I saw, that is something alarming. Like the lady just said, I don't know if she knows about gorillas or not, but that gorilla was not happy, for example. If you look at your record, you'll see that the book about the zoo in Chicago about 20, 15 years ago you'll see where a gorilla and a child 3-year-old -- I think it's 3 years old, fell into the gorilla mote, the female gorilla picked up the little child and held it. Now why was that? Because that gorilla was raised here at the Columbus Zoo by people. We don't do that anymore. That gorilla was used to human.

So what I'm saying is there's no doubt about it. The Cincinnati Zoo did what they had to do. We have the safety of our people first, safety of our animals, and safety of our employees, all come together. And when you have to make a decision like this, there is not one second to delay. If you tranquilize that animal, by the way, it hit that animal with a dart, what would happen to that male? What would you do? As you've seen -- when we do research in the wild, looking at animals in the wild, you might tranquilize an elephant or a giraffe or your dog. Of course it's much different, the dog with a clinic. And you jump.

That gorilla could have taken that little child and taken him apart in a second. Even though they're a gentle giant, they're a beautiful animal, don't get me wrong, but they did the right thing and they had to do it in a split second. If not you would have had another tragedy on your hand.

CABRERA: Let me stop you for a second because when you look at the situation, a lot of people might be asking how did that child end up in this gorilla's habitat.

HANNA: OK.

CABRERA: What we learned is he had to go under a rail, went through some wires and then he dropped about 15 feet into the mote. Now we do know that a couple of female gorillas were able to be called out of that habitat but this male gorilla would not leave and instead approached the child. As you look at the video you said you could tell on his face that he was angry. What more can you read into his behavior?

HANNA: OK. It's pretty simple. Once you have the child in there, all of a sudden, think about this, this is an animal -- what is this thing I got in here? The gorilla is thinking about, what's this thing that just dropped in here? Remember, he's a big male gorilla, right? He's there to take care of everybody else. If you look into the wild, what I do, or you're studying gorillas as I've done for 40 years in the zoological situation, that animal just had something come in there, right? All of a sudden people are screaming, so the child starts screaming. All of a sudden -- by the way, that one in Brookfield didn't cry. He just was unconscious for a little bit. The child is great today at 27 years old.

The point is -- all that commotion, screaming, all that stuff, the child pulling away a little bit, all of a sudden, what is this thing I have down here? He doesn't know at that point so he's alarmed. By the way, he's there to protect his other people, his other gorillas that are there with him. And so there is no choice to be made because that little kid could be apart in a split second. So I can't understand some people. There's human life and there's animal life. No one loves animals more than me. For 40 something years I've dedicated my life to the animal world both in the wild as well as here in the zoo.

And so no one loves animals more than the Hanna family. And by the way, you don't have a split second to make a decision. And what would happen -- OK, let's say that they had let it go, right, and they tranquilize the gorilla, all of a sudden the boy is just slammed on a rock or something, he's gone. What would these people be calling in now?

CABRERA: Right. All right.

HANNA: So it's not a win-win, no lose -- it's a lose or win, who loses, who wins. Well, at this point a human being, if you want to use that term, which I hear people learning or saying, it is the children -- the human is alive now. I'm losing sleep right now, a lot of us here at the zoo, our hearts go out to the Cincinnati Zoo.

CABRERA: Yes.

HANNA: We're all one big family in this world.

[17:10:02] CABRERA: What a shocking situation. Jack Hanna, thank you for giving us some of your time today. We appreciate it.

HANNA: All right, thank you for calling. Thank you.

CABRERA: Thank you.

We are tracking some severe weather, even deadly weather in parts of the country this Memorial Day weekend. Tropical storm depression Bonny is whipping up treacherous waves and rip currents off the coast of the Carolinas. Rescue crews in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, are now searching for a swimmer who got caught up in the surf there.

And check out these images from South Carolina. You can see, this is a section of I-95 that submerged. Floodwaters have now reached even the windows on some of the cars, though. Look at this. These cars were just abandoned along the interstate.

And to the west of there, southeast Texas area, four people have died in rushing floodwaters. Another three people are still missing. Get this, they have had 17 inches of rain this past week. Right now there's an effort underway to get stranded horses to higher ground in Houston. Residents along the nearby Broncos River got the evacuation order this afternoon because that river is expected to crest on Tuesday just when another round of heavy rain is likely.

Let's bring in meteorologist Tom Sater joining us from our severe weather center.

Tom, these poor folks can't get a break. How much worse can we expect to get in Texas?

(WEATHER REPORT)

CABRERA: Our thoughts are with those people tonight. Tom Sater, thanks for the update. Coming up here live in the CNN NEWSROOM, actor and passionate

supporter of veterans Gary Sinise with a Memorial Day weekend message for Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY SINISE, VETERANS ADVOCATE: I reacted. I was disappointed that he would do that and include an entire generation of POWs as folks that had failed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And it's been 28 years since Pennsylvania voted Republican in a presidential election. But now Trump thinks he can turn that blue state red.

So how do the Democrats stop him? I'll talk it over with Pennsylvania senator and Clinton supporter, Bob Casey. That's next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:17:25] CABRERA: Welcome back. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Donald Trump and his soon-to-be-determined Democratic opponent now officially have a third party fight on their hands. Gary Johnson just nailed down the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. And he could be a real curve ball, particularly for Trump and Hillary Clinton because both have huge unfavorable numbers with voters. In fact, a "Washington Post"-ABC News poll finds only half of registered voters are actually satisfied with Trump or Clinton while 44 percent say they want a third party option.

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey is a Democrat who supports Hillary Clinton. He is joining me now.

Senator, good to see you on this Sunday.

SEN. BOB CASEY (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Ana, good to be with you. Thank you.

CABRERA: Your state could be crucial this election cycle. So for those with an unfavorable view of both Trump and Clinton, do you view a third party alternative as a bigger threat to Democrats or Republicans there in Pennsylvania?

CASEY: Well, Ana, I think it's probably too early to tell what the impact of a third party candidacy will be on the election. But our state tends to be fairly close in presidential elections, kind of a 52-48 kind of state or maybe a little more. But it tends to be a couple of points separating. So a third party candidacy could have an impact but I think it's pretty early to tell.

I think Secretary Clinton will win Pennsylvania with a lot of hard work by her team and by those like me who support her but I think she's going to win. One of the principal reasons for that I think is the economic focus that she's brought to the campaign. She's identified growing incomes, raising incomes as the number one economic challenge that we have. And I think that's the right focus for not only Pennsylvania but for the United States, as well.

CABRERA: Senator, Donald Trump actually does better on the economy, though, when you ask voters. And he seems to be pretty confident that he could flip this state, which we know hasn't voted for a Republican since 1988. Listen to what he said this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But I won the elections in landslides. You know it's very important to say. You look at these elections. We go to New York, we win almost 62 percent of the vote with three people running. We then go to Pennsylvania, which is going to be I think a state that we're going to do amazingly well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: He says he's going to do amazing there in Pennsylvania. He did win big in the primary in your state. Do you think that Donald Trump understands the voters in your state?

CASEY: Well, we'll have to wait and see. But, Ana, I think he's referring to the primary, of course, which is in our state both primaries are closed, meaning that only Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary and only Republicans in the Republican primary.

[17:20:04] So now he's going to be in the general election. And instead of having a million or two voting at the most, this primary is a lot less. Now he'll be voting in a population probably of about five million voters, so much bigger electorate. And I think when they're matched up, I think Hillary Clinton is going to do quite well. Not only because of the time she has spent in Pennsylvania over the years but principally because she is focused on the number one challenge that the nation has and that's the challenge of wages not growing.

Ana, you know that one of the studies that was put out in 2015 by the Economic Policy Institute said that after World War II, wages went up for about 25 years at a clip of about 91 percent. After 1973, literally for 40 years, it went from 91 percent wage growth to 9 percent. That's why you have a lot of the economic anxiety that we have even with the low unemployment rate. I think when people take a look at the two candidates, I think Secretary Clinton will do quite well.

CABRERA: People are hurting in Pennsylvania and people are hurting this election cycle. A lot of people say that's why an outsider candidate like Donald Trump has done so well. Now the presumptive Republican nominee.

Let's turn from politics to the super bug. Arriving here in the U.S. The first patient happens to be there in Pennsylvania. What are state health officials that you're talking to there right now doing to stop the spread of this potentially deadly nightmare bacteria? CASEY: Well, first and foremost, the state officials and the federal

officials, whether it's the federal government itself or the Centers for Disease Control are working together to understand what happened in this case. It's one individual. Happens to be a woman living in Pennsylvania trying to find out as much as they can about her case. But also urgently trying to push very quickly to develop a new strategy to confront this kind of super bug.

You've got in essence a -- in essence a gene and a bacteria which is resistant to any treatment at all. So that's -- I think there's both an urgency to find out what happened in her case, how she might have developed this problem, but also to do everything we can to develop either an antibiotic or a treatment that will confront what is a very dangerous threat to health, especially to the individuals that are directly impacted.

CABRERA: Right. Very quickly, do you know how that patient is doing?

CASEY: The reports indicate that she is doing OK now. But I don't have a -- I don't have an up-to-the-minute or a diagnosis.

CABRERA: OK.

CASEY: But the reporting indicates that right now she's not in any danger.

CABRERA: That's good to hear. Senator Bob Casey, thanks for joining us today.

CASEY: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Coming up, we have a CNN exclusive. Marco Rubio talking very candidly about the highs and the lows of running for office including an apology he offered to Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:26:48] SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: And you know what they say about men with small hands. You can't trust them. You can't trust them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Moments of the Republican campaign Marco Rubio commenting on the size of Donald Trump's hands and of course that led to other comments during a debate. It was also a rare moment, though, of a candidate giving Trump a little bit of a taste of his own medicine.

But in an interview with Jack Tapper on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" today, Rubio said he regretted that dig.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": In one way, you are responsible for an unprecedented moment in American politics, when Donald Trump went on stage and assured the American people that there was no problem, regardless of the size of his hands.

RUBIO: Yes.

TAPPER: "I guarantee you."

RUBIO: Well, and you know what? And I actually --

TAPPER: To be fair to him, you raised that issue.

RUBIO: I did. And so -- you know, and I actually told Donald at one of the debates, I forget which one, I apologized to him for that. I said, you know, I'm sorry that I said that. It's not who I am and I shouldn't have done it. And I didn't say it in front of the cameras. I didn't want any political benefit. I'm not a candidate now, so I can say that to you, because -- not because of him, but because of me. You know, I didn't like what it reflected on me. It embarrassed my family. It's not who I am.

And you did it almost in a sense of, you know, nothing -- at this point, you know, nothing is working. I mean, this guy is out there every day making -- mocking people, saying horrible things about people, but if you respond to him, somehow you're beneath -- you're hitting below the belt? And that was my sense of it at the time. What I didn't realize was, you know, it isn't who I am. And if you're not being who you are, it doesn't come across well. And he can do that, because, for whatever reason, he can do that. But I couldn't do that. It's not who I am. It's not what I do. And by doing it, I ended up hurting myself, not him.

TAPPER: What was the decision like to actually just kind of let loose and unleash and --

RUBIO: There wasn't any meeting. It was -- or anybody in my staff. It was kind of, enough is enough. I mean, this guy is literally out there every day mocking people for their appearance, for this, for that, and someone, you know, needs to stand up to this guy. Eventually somebody's got to step forward and say, we're going to put an end to this. And had I not been a candidate, maybe that would have been the right thing to do, but, in essence, I think it was -- I don't think it cost me the election, but I most certainly don't think it helped us.

And -- but here's the interesting thing. After I did that, for about four days, every one of my speeches was covered live on cable.

(LAUGHTER)

RUBIO: They all broke in to cover my speeches in case I said something else. So I don't know. I mean, what is that saying?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Still ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM, from President Obama's birth certificate to vaccines and autism, even the death of Supreme Court Justice Scalia, how Donald Trump uses conspiracy theories as part of his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you accept that President Obama was born in the United States, is not Muslim.

TRUMP: No, I don't know. I really don't know. I mean --

COOPER: You don't know?

TRUMP: I don't know. I don't know why he wouldn't release his records, but you know, honestly, I don't want to get into it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:32:40] CABRERA: Welcome back. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera.

Now the idea that someone could win the presidential nomination with a campaign that repeats easily disproven conspiracy theories probably seemed impossible a year ago but somehow Donald Trump has done it and done it pretty easily. In fact, he launched his political career on the idea that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen. What since been dubbed the birther conspiracy. And as our Tom Foreman shows us that would eventually become the first in a long string of unproven claims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 1993, the Clintons were being scrutinized over a real estate deal called White Water when Deputy White House counsel Vince Foster was found dead. Investigators in five separate investigations called it suicide, but still some people have suspected murder.

And Trump's thoughts on Foster? "He knew everything that was going on and then all of a sudden he committed suicide," Trump told the "Washington Post." "Very fishy."

TRUMP: That's unbelievable.

FOREMAN: It's not the first conspiracy theory he's liked. Last fall, he fixated on the widely disproven claim vaccines cause autism.

TRUMP: The beautiful child went to have the vaccine and came back -- and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.

FOREMAN: Then he turned to the 9/11 attacks.

TRUMP: And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down.

FOREMAN: But CNN and others could not find any proof.

More recently, Trump wondered about the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

TRUMP: But they say they found a pillow on his face which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow.

FOREMAN: Authorities say yes, but he was sleeping and died of natural causes. So Trump moved to the Kennedy assassination, suggesting a link between Ted Cruz's father and Lee Harvey Oswald. Again, no proof.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: This is nuts. This is not a reasonable position, this is just kooky.

FOREMAN: It may have all started with the birthers in 2011 when Trump joined the chorus saying Barack Obama was not a native-born American. President Obama's birth certificate proves otherwise but listen to Trump just last summer.

[17:35:03] COOPER: Do you accept that President Obama was born in the United States, is not Muslim?

TRUMP: No, I don't know. I really don't know. I mean --

COOPER: You don't know?

TRUMP: I don't know. I don't know why he wouldn't release his records, but you know, honestly, I don't want to get into it.

FOREMAN (on camera): In some ways, that's typical. Trump seldom insists that these conspiracy theories are true. He just throws the rumors out there and gives them room to grow. And if they are proven false or the push back is too hard he also gives himself room to run.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Our thanks to Tom Foreman.

Lots to chew on there. We're going to do so here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Could the politics of paranoia help Trump win the traditionally blue states like California, for example, which has not voted for a Republican president in 28 years?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And I have heard this from other friends of mine in California where they have farms up here and they don't get water. I say that's too bad. Is there a drought? No, we have plenty of water. I say, what's wrong?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: He has accused President Obama of not being an American citizen. He has insinuated the Clintons had a hand in the death of a former White House aide. And just this weekend, in fact, Donald Trump told Californians the five-year drought there isn't really happening.

So are voters simply ignoring some of these conspiracy theories or are they actually embracing them?

[17:40:02] Here to discuss, contributor for the "Daily Beast" and host of the "Dean Obeidallah Show" on Sirius XM, Dean Obeidallah himself. Also with us, Republican strategist and Trump surrogate, Boris Epstein. Epstein.

BORIS EPSTEIN, TRUMP SURROGATE: Epstein. It's OK.

CABRERA: Sorry about that, Boris.

EPSTEIN: That's fine.

CABRERA: We're going back and forth. Epstein, Epstein?

EPSTEIN: It's fine. Otherwise.

CABRERA: Epstein. Dean, I'm going to ask you first.

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, HOST, "THE DEAN OBEIDALLAH SHOW": Sure.

CABRERA: You know, Trump is pretty strategic when it comes to how he throws out these conspiracy theories but then kind of leaves enough room where people can run with him but he could also kind of backtrack. What do you think about this tactic?

OBEIDALLAH: I think he will do anything to avoid talking policy. So these things are great. He loves talking about his kind of like unsolved mysteries. He should host that show instead of Robert Stack if it ever comes back. He likes to talk about anything but policy. And I really think that's his weakness, frankly. So any of this stuff gets us talking about things from 1993, 1995, unsubstantiated theories or claims.

CABRERA: Right.

OBEIDALLAH: So we don't go that deep with his policy. And that's Trump's genius. He makes us go to his strength, which is this kind of reality show, Kardashian, Justin Bieber fighting, getting away his weakness which is policy details.

CABRERA: Is that what's going on here, Boris?

EPSTEIN: Well, I completely disagree as far as policy. You've seen that on Trump -- the last two months and you will see continuing in the next five months really concentrating on foreign policy. A lot of them. Immigration, on foreign policy, national security, on the economy, and then he goes out there and makes his feelings heard on certain topics. And he absolutely has the right do so. Right? He is an American -- American citizen running for president. He's got a really big loud speaker now and he's making his positions heard. So where's the problem? CABRERA: Some people would say that comes with great responsibility.

Let's just talk about some of the conspiracy theories he's throwing out there.

EPSTEIN: Sure.

CABRERA: The death of Vince Foster. We saw Tom Foreman go through some of these. Vaccines, linking it to autism. Ted Cruz and his father being connected to the JFK assassination in some ways. The Obama birth certificate, of course, and then even talking about people in the streets after 9/11 cheering about those. And all of these have in many cases been disproven to be true. Does he really believe in these theories?

EPSTEIN: Well, you have to ask him what he believes in.

OBEIDALLAH: You're the surrogate. You got to tell us. Come on.

EPSTEIN: But generally I'm not --

OBEIDALLAH: Boris, do you believe it?

(CROSSTALK)

EPSTEIN: I'm not in his mind. That's not my position. But, you know, what he generally does on all of these is say this is up for discussion. Specifically on the Ted Cruz where he said it's been reported. It's up for people to decide for themselves. And what's wrong with doing that?

CABRERA: But why is he bringing them up? Why bring them up at all?

EPSTEIN: Well, because we're talking about them now.

OBEIDALLAH: That's exactly it. That's my point. We don't want to talk policy. He is a genius.

(LAUGHTER)

OBEIDALLAH: I have to say I acknowledge --

EPSTEIN: Let's talk about policy, how about that?

OBEIDALLAH: His strength in the idea of getting away from his weakness, which is -- and going to his strength.

EPSTEIN: No.

OBEIDALLAH: It has to be applauded.

EPSTEIN: Here's what it is. He has got over $3 billion of free media. Right?

OBEIDALLAH: Yes.

EPSTEIN: And we're getting so much exposure. You can only talk about policy so much. The other stuff is going to come out. Everything he says is so magnified that he has the ability -- anything he says --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: But let me throw this out -- let me throw this out there, though.

OBEIDALLAH: Sure.

CABRERA: Because perhaps it has to do with where we're at in this space and time. There was a study that was conducted, funded by the University of Chicago. Had to do with conspiracy theories that found 50 percent of Americans believe in some kind of conspiracy theory.

So, Dean, is there something about this election cycle that is working in Trump's favor when it comes to us talking about conspiracies?

OBEIDALLAH: I'm not sure. Because I think it's probably specific to certain conspiracies and not everything is a conspiracy. But I think honestly --

EPSTEIN: Well, actually, the Vince Foster thing is not a conspiracy theory. So what happened to Vince Foster?

CABRERA: The investigation -- private investigation said that he -- that he committed suicide. That it was not nefarious.

OBEIDALLAH: Right.

EPSTEIN: Why were all the e-mails deleted?

OBEIDALLAH: But here's the thing. Instead of talking about the conspiracy, let's talk about the factual mistakes Donald Trump made this week instead. He gave a speech about energy independence. He said America has more oil reserves than all of OPEC. Guess what, Saudi Arabia alone, just Saudi, has six times more than us. He said America has the most natural gas reserves in a country.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSTEIN: Saudis are unpacked.

OBEIDALLAH: We're fifth. We're fifth. So the idea that -- but when he gets into facts he makes mistake after mistake. It's not just on -- these are not conspiracy theories.

EPSTEIN: No, what about -- hold on, what about the fact that --

OBEIDALLAH: The drought. We have four-year low in rain in California. This is not -- this real. These are facts.

EPSTEIN: What about talking about the fact that members of NATO do not spend the 2 percent that they are obligated to spend over their GDP on national security.

OBEIDALLAH: That's not conspiracy theory.

EPSTEIN: No --

CABRERA: You think that Trump is ill-informed in part --

(CROSSTALK)

EPSTEIN: They're not conspiracy theories.

OBEIDALLAH: Children are better informed.

EPSTEIN: No, Obama once said that there are 53 states in the country.

CABRERA: One at a time. One at a time.

OBEIDALLAH: What's interesting, the truth about Donald Trump is that I talked to someone who used to work with him. The big thing is, he doesn't like to do homework. Donald Trump has gotten away with successfully doing things by winging it.

EPSTEIN: Hold on. This is about -- this is the conspiracy theory. I talked to someone. Hold on. I talked to someone who knows somebody. Hold on, Dean.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: OK. Just finish your thought.

OBEIDALLAH: He doesn't like to do homework and he wings it. He likes to wing it.

EPSTEIN: OK. If you want to name who that is, go ahead and do so.

OBEIDALLAH: It's someone you know.

EPSTEIN: And that person I'm sure will run away from that statement. I know the Trumps personally. I will guarantee you that a lot of homework is done. These are very smart educated people and he's out there on the campaign trail every day talking about facts like the GDP issue, the percentage of GDP and NATO, like immigration and issues that are really are worrying. In California he is talking about the water issue because that's the key issue in California.

[17:45:09] Hold on, let me finish now. You go all over the country and that's why he is expanding the states he's going to, like we talked about.

(CROSSTALK)

OBEIDALLAH: What else did he talk about California?

EPSTEIN: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania --

OBEIDALLAH: The judge in charge in Trump University case is Mexican?

EPSTEIN: Well, unlike Hillary Clinton --

OBEIDALLAH: This is insane. EPSTEIN: Hold on. Unlike Hillary Clinton, he's actually willing to

talk about his problems.

OBEIDALLAH: No. But Donald Trump slammed a federal judge, and Republicans have slammed judges before, but not for their own personal cases.

EPSTEIN: Obama slammed the Supreme Court justice during the State of the Union.

OBEIDALLAH: So unconstitutionally, she's not -- he has his own case on fraud in front of a judge.

CABRERA: It has to do with Trump University. The judge that's looking into whether, you know.

OBEIDALLAH: And Donald Trump said the guy --

EPSTEIN: And so he's not allowed to comment about him?

OBEIDALLAH: First of all, it's a private case. Has nothing to do with America. Has his own financial --

EPSTEIN: It's a civil case.

OBEIDALLAH: Civil case. Secondly he brings up the guy is Mexican. He brings the judge's ethnic background. This is a judge. Just so it's clear for everyone, appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican governor, to be a Superior Court judge in California before he became --

(CROSSTALK)

EPSTEIN: Well, you know what, so far, all this has not hurt Donald Trump at all in the polls.

CABRERA: OK. You know what, we're going to have to end it there.

EPSTEIN: And will continue to not hurt him. He will win the presidency.

CABRERA: We're going to have to end it there.

OBEIDALLAH: At some point.

EPSTEIN: No.

OBEIDALLAH: It's going to hurt.

EPSTEIN: At some point --

OBEIDALLAH: And someone is going to hurt.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: I would love to have you two back on because I know you both --

EPSTEIN: He'll be president.

OBEIDALLAH: We are leaving.

CABRERA: Passionate feeling here. So we'll continue the conversation another day. Gentlemen, thank you so much. Dean Obeidallah as well as Boris Epstein.

EPSTEIN: Thank you.

OBEIDALLAH: Thanks.

CABRERA: Epstein.

EPSTEIN: Epstein.

CABRERA: I did it again.

EPSTEIN: It's all right.

CABRERA: My goodness. It must be a Sunday.

EPSTEIN: It's OK. That's all right.

CABRERA: Thank you.

EPSTEIN: As long as Trump wins, I'll be happy.

OBEIDALLAH: Oh, boy.

CABRERA: All right. Up next here in the CNN NEWSROOM, actor Gary Sinise shares with me the special way he is honoring veterans this Memorial Day as well as how the role you know him best for, Lieutenant Dan in "Forrest Gump," influenced his life to this day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SINISE: Where are you boys from in the world?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alabama, sir.

SINISE: You twins?

TOM HANK, ACTOR: No. We are not relations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:38] CABRERA: Well, Memorial Day is more than just a three-day weekend. It is about honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. And that is something actor Gary Sinise knows very well.

You probably know him best as Lieutenant Dan in "Forrest Gump." Sinise says it was through that role that he formed an enduring connection with servicemen and women throughout the military community, and today he works to honor veterans, first responders and their families through the Gary Sinise Foundation. And Gary Sinise is joining me now.

Gary, it is so great to talk to you. We're honored to have you. Tell us more about what your foundation does and why you are passionate about veterans.

SINISE: Well, thank you for having me. We're actually coming up on our fifth anniversary. I launched the foundation right here in Washington, D.C., where I am, for the National Memorial Day concert tonight. We launched the foundation in June of 2011. It was kind of a natural extension of a lot of the work that I have been doing to support our military going back to the late '70s and '80s in the Chicago area. Then after I did play Lieutenant Dan in "Forrest Gump," that role led me to an association with the DAV, Disabled American Veteran Organization, and working to support our wounded.

And after September 11th, I just dove in, volunteered for the USO. Started doing what I could to support the men and women deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan and helping many military charities along the way who were trying to reach out and fill the gaps and make sure that services were provided. And that all manifested itself into the creation of my own foundation, the Gary Sinise Foundation.

We have so many different programs across the spectrum. And one of our -- one of our big programs is called RISE, Restoring Independence, Supporting Empowerment. And we help to build specially designed homes for our wounded. One of the pictures you saw there, right there, is -- that's one of our program's called Soaring Valor where we provide services to our World War II veterans.

And I have a great relationship with the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. We take these veterans, many of them, most of them in their 90s, down to the museum so that they can see the special tribute that was built in their honor and we also record them for the National Archive at the museum so that their stories are preserved forever in time at the museum library there.

CABRERA: I want to ask you about recent news-making comments by one of our presidential candidates. I know you wrote Donald Trump a letter after he made some comments about Senator John McCain last summer. And I want to read just part of what you wrote to him.

It says, "I fail to see how you could possibly think that attacking and insulting a Vietnam veteran prisoner of war and in turn an entire group of POWs from the Vietnam War will serve to generate support for veterans in general."

I had a chance to speak with Bob Dole yesterday and he thinks Donald Trump really needs to apologize to John McCain for the comments he made about him being a POW. Today Trump's camp now declining to make any comment at all. What is your reaction?

SINISE: Well, I was disappointed in that. I'm disappointed whenever I hear anyone, you know, attack our veterans in any way. So I just felt -- that was I think a tweet or something. I just got on the Twitter and sent something out because I just -- I reacted. I was disappointed that he would do that and include an entire generation of POWs as folks that had failed. Our POWs served. Obviously there were a lot of POWs in Vietnam. They all paid a heavy, heavy price. John McCain was one of them. And to lump them all together and say that they weren't honorable in their service was disappointing to me. So I just reacted.

CABRERA: Gary Sinise, thank you for all of the work you do to help those veterans and for being such a great spokesman on behalf of their issues. We can again see how much this means to you. So thank you for sharing with us and we hope to talk to you soon and see the action that you are doing really make a difference in these people's lives.

SINISE: Thank you so much. And the National Memorial Day concert is tonight, 8:00 on PBS. So tune in.

CABRERA: We are saluting the brave.

[17:55:00] Coming up live here in the CNN NEWSROOM, more of my conversation with Gary Sinise including whether he feels like Trump's comments about veterans should disqualify him from serving as commander-in-chief.

Also ahead a 4-year-old trapped in a zoo enclosure with a 400-pound gorilla. We have the video of the heart-stopping moment. It's shocking to see this right before that little boy is eventually rescued and that endangered animal is killed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: In today's "Fit Nation," meet the man who holds the Guinness World Record for the farthest distance ever traveled on a skateboard in 24 hours. Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Andrew Andras is a giant in the small but competitive world of long- distance skating.

ANDREW ANDRAS, LONG-DISTANCE SKATING COMPETITION COMPETITOR: You can kind of say it's between, say, a cyclist and a runner.

GUPTA: At 39 years old, Andras is the ultra skate world record holder, skating over 300 miles in just 24 hours.

ANDRAS: There's no books out there on how to skateboard for 24 hours. So it was a lot of figuring out, how to feed the body and your training program.

GUPTA: Andras is a firefighter paramedic in Miami-Dade.

ANDRAS: It's a very physical, demanding job. It's a very stressful job and we need forms of stress relief from that. [18:00:03] Being out on the long board and racing was my answer. I

love the competition, the sport and pushing yourself past the limit that you didn't think you could do mentally or physically. The human spirit wants to be challenged.

(END VIDEOTAPE)