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NEW DAY SUNDAY

Western Wildfires: Fierce Winds Fuel Rampant Flames; 20 Thousand People Expected at Vigil for Victims; Trump on GOP Delegate Revolt: "Not Allowed to Do It"; Senate Gun Vote Expected Tomorrow; Interview with Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts; Warriors and Cavaliers Play for NBA Title. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired June 19, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was shot about three times in my leg.

REPORTER: This is the Nazal neighborhood in central Fallujah. It was until day before yesterday under the control of ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. So grateful to have your company. And, by the way, Happy Father's Day, all of you fathers out there.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

PAUL: I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you this morning.

PAUL: Well, what a morning, though, with tens of thousands of acres on fire right now in three Western states.

BLACKWELL: And the fuel for those fires, triple digit temperatures, high winds, really dry conditions in southern California, entire hillsides -- look at these pictures -- they've been consumed by the flames. Nearly 8,000 acres burned there, mandatory evacuations are under way for almost 300 buildings, and nearly 2,000 firefighters have been called in to fight the fire. Twelve thousand acres are also burning in Arizona. Another 50,000 acres in two separate fires burning in New Mexico.

Allison Chinchar, there's a lot here, joining us from the severe weather center.

Good morning to you, and there are several factors as we mentioned that are making these fires worst.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Yes, good morning to you.

So, let's start in California. They get what's called a sundowner winds, meaning, at sundown and through the overnight hours, the winds pick up and that unfortunately usually makes it much, much worse for the firefighters to be able to contain them. But with that said, they did make some improvements on the containment, going from 30 percent to 40 percent range overnight last night and this morning. We still had these areas shaded in pink, which is an excessive heat warning.

Again, we are not expecting a few degrees above normal. We're expecting 15, 20 degrees above normal and very low humidities to go with it. Because of the smoke from those fires, we also had air quality alerts out for portions of New Mexico and also into Arizona.

But to really understand how this works, let's kind of break it down for you. Here you can see, we have this dome of high pressure. What this does is basically traps in all of that hot, dry air over the same spots.

Your winds are also moving basically in an offshore, especially in California, where it's taking it from the hot dry land and ocean and then pushing it out over towards the ocean. And what that does is it helps to fuel and spread those fires out a little bit more. And then again, we factor in the sundowner winds that we talked about.

Now, in terms of Arizona and New Mexico, their biggest issue going forward, guys, is going to be the fact that we have no rain really in the forecast, the Sherpa Fire in California, again, no rain chance. We have a couple for the Cedar Fire, but you're going to have to wait, Victor and Christi, until at least the middle portion of the upcoming week.

BLACKWELL: They need the relief soon. Allison Chinchar in the severe weather center for us -- Allison, thank you.

PAUL: I wonder if you remember where you were at 7:02 last Sunday, because I think a lot of the people in Orlando remember where they were as they heard the news about a terror attack at a gay nightclub that had happened. Well, it was one week ago exactly today that we brought you this bring news, the carnage that was happening inside Pulse nightclub. Shortly after 2:00 in the morning, 49 people killed, dozens were injured.

Tonight, 20,000 are expected to come together at a memorial and a candlelight vigil as they honor the people who died in the shooting.

Our Polo Sandoval joins us live from Orlando. He has some details on what's happening in the community there.

And, Polo, do you have any information on exactly how they're going to honor these victims?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You mentioned one of the ways, too, Christi, that there are going to be thousands of people that will likely turn out for the memorial march and vigil here in Orlando. And at the same time, we're seeing shows of support, and tremendous really tributes from around the world, people from as far away as Germany also coming together at the Brandenburg Gate, the place was lit with rainbow colors just yesterday, a tribute to the victims here. There was also one memorial that was particularly touching. It was

for Cory Connell. He's a student who had big dreams of becoming a firefighter. Sadly, he did not make it out of the Pulse nightclub alive a week ago today. So, as a result yesterday during his funeral, there was a very emotional moment as firefighters came together to name him an honorary firefighter. And even some of his family members speaking out and sharing the story of Cory, which again just one of 49 and thanking the community for their constant support.

I want you to hear from Connell's grandfather yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY CONNELL, CORY CONNELL'S GRANDFATHER: I know that I'm listening (INAUDIBLE), and I can't wait to take my hand and grab him, I just want to reach out and squeeze him, because he was so cute. My family and I have built the love and support for so many. (INAUDIBLE) comforting us, all the people who Cory touched.

[07:05:07] Thank you for the blessing. God knew this day was coming.

Life is like a book. It has a beginning and it has an end. But in the middle, is the good stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Again, just one of several tributes. And, of course, one of the last ones was during a soccer game that took place here yesterday. Fans and even players, pausing 49 minutes into the game, representing the 49 lives that were lost here a week ago -- guys.

PAUL: I hope that the people of Orlando are feeling the support coming their way this morning.

Polo Sandoval, we appreciate it, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Well, police and terrorism experts warn that more attacks could happen in places that you go, maybe on a regular basis, the types of places at least, the movie theater, the supermarket, a mall. These places are known as soft targets. Well, now, first responders and security experts are forced to rethink their tactical approach to these targets.

Our Ryan Young met with experts to talk the spike in attacks and challenges of fighting back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Through the internet and magazines, ISIS commanders are trying to encourage more attacks on soft targets around the world. So far, their call has been met with deadly results. One hundred thirty people killed in Paris, 14 killed in San Bernardino, and 49 people killed at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Security experts tell CNN the major goal in all of these attacks is to maximize the human toll with a smallest amounts of resistance.

DR. ROBERT PAPE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: We're seeing a near perfect soft target. What do I mean by that, I mean a target where the attacker can count on there be a large number of people, minimum, dozens, often hundreds, clustered together, packed together in time and space that he can predict.

YOUNG: Robert Pape is the founder of a project on security and terrorism at the University of Chicago. He says the shift in ISIS strategy happened less than a year ago, when the terror group started inspiring lone wolves to carry out attacks, and he believes it will continue.

PAPE: What ISIS has been doing over the last eight months is unleashed a campaign of attacks against soft targets in the West.

YOUNG: But predicting the type of soft target an attacker might strike is what's so difficult.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How will we respond to soft target hardening?

YOUNG: That's why agencies are gearing up and trying to prepare for the next attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a soft target that someone is looking to exploit and attack every day.

YOUNG: This week, just outside Chicago, law enforcement leaders met to discuss and learn what their communities can do to prepare for an Orlando style attack.

DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF BRIAN BUDDS, WESTERN SPRINGS, ILLINOIS: This is a problem that is not going to go away and we have an obligation in public safety to take the lead and again partner with our communities and our other leaders to stop another one from happening.

YOUNG: Tom Brady helped lead the post office investigation with several letters containing the poison anthrax sent after 9/11.

Today, he serves as director of the Homeland Security Training Institute at the College of DuPage in Illinois, a place for police officers training for all types of hostile situation.

(on camera): What do you want law enforcement to know about soft targets?

TOM BRADY, HOMELAND SECURITY TRAINING INSTITUTE: Well, we want people to know that soft targets are something that is not going to stop. We're going to see more of them.

YOUNG (voice-over): A sobering thought for law enforcement officials who tell us they need the public's help now more than ever, in an effort to harden soft targets around the world.

Ryan Young, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Our thanks to Ryan.

In just a few minutes, we'll talk with Iraq war veteran and congressman, Seth Moulton. He's used these assault style weapons, semi-automatic rifles, and he says they have no place on American streets. We'll get his perspective in a moment.

PAUL: And tough words from the Republican Party. Donald Trump threatening to himself if he doesn't get help from the establishment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If the Republican Party, and I hope they all come together because I want them to come together, it's great, but if for any reason, they get little bit like they don't want to help out as much, then I'll fund my own campaign. I'd love to do that. I'd love to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:12:37] PAUL: Twelve minutes past the hour.

And Donald Trump renewing his threat to self-fund if he believes support from the Republican Party is starting to waver. This comes as the billionaire businessman is really fighting back against a group of delegates, thinking of ways to block him from becoming their party's presidential nominee next month in Cleveland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And now you have couple of guys that were badly defeated, and they're trying to organize maybe like a little bit of a delegate revolt.

The Republican National Committee, they put out a statement, you can't do it. It's not legal. You can't do it. You're not allowed to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN politics reporter Tom Lobianco joining us here.

Tom, good to see you this morning. Donald Trump there calling it illegal. Explain to us what this conscience clause is they're trying to get through.

TOM LOBIANCO, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Sure. Well, to start with, nothing is quite illegal really with what the delegates do. What this comes down to is how the Republicans nominate their presidential candidate. Who will be their nominee?

And this gets down to the mechanics of it. The delegates themselves have the ability to write their own rules. This is why the delegate fight that we saw, you know, just a month or two ago, where Ted Cruz appeared to be winning this major behind the scenes victory over Trump at the time. Why that mattered so much.

What they're looking at right now, it is being led by Kendall Unruh, who is a Colorado delegate. She's a member of the powerful convention rules committee. And what they're looking at is a so-called conscience clause, where it would allow delegates to vote their conscience, if they object to the way that Donald Trump has talked about banning Muslims from entering the country, if they on object to his language about women, if they object to anything, they can cite this and not necessarily vote against him, but could theoretically abstain from voting thereby denying him the 1,237 delegates he would not need to become the nominee.

PAUL: Tom LoBianco, it is such a complicated process I think for some people to wrap their heads around. Thank you so much for walking us through it. We appreciate it.

LOBIANCO: You got it.

BLACKWELL: All right. Plenty to talk about. I'm joined now by Amy Kremer, cofounder of Women Vote Trump, and Tharon Johnson, former south regional director for President Obama's 2012 campaign and a Hillary Clinton supporter.

[07:15:01] Welcome back to both of you.

THARON JOHNSON, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: Amy, I want to start with where Tom left off, this revolt within the party. Donald Trump calls it a hoax. He doesn't believe it is real.

You see that there are things in the works. There are plans here. How seriously should the Trump campaign take this?

AMY KREMER, CO-FOUNDER, WOMEN VOTE TRUMP: I don't think it is very serious. I mean, you're talking -- first of all, Steve Lonegan, you guys had had him on recently, I think Wolf had him on Friday, he talked about this conference call that they had had the night before, 30 people on the conference call.

Really, you're going to disenfranchised 14 million plus voters that voted for Trump in the primary? I don't think it's going to happen. I really think it's just a dream.

BLACKWELL: Steve Lonegan, a Cruz supporter, who has been anti-Trump.

Let me come to you and I want to talk about the Democrats. We've got to talk double duty, we come to you, Tharon, and talk about Bernie Sanders, his supporters at this people's summit over the weekend. One of the organizers said something that I found pretty interesting and actually jump out of the read there on CNN.com. Let's put it up on the screen for folks, who say that it is a very negative conversation that the party is now trying to bring the Sanders supporters onto the Clinton son. If you're not with Clinton, then you're pro-Trump. Is that how you see it as a Clinton supporter, that if you're not with

Clinton, you're pro Trump?

JOHNSON: Absolutely not. Listen, what the Clinton campaign has been doing behind the scenes and real quite frankly, very, very transparent about it, is that they are saying, look, we need Bernie Sanders, and we need his supporters. One of the things that I think was interesting about this people's summit is that the things they discussed at the summit were racial and social and economic justice reform, and talking about things like eliminating poverty. These are things you would never hear at a Donald Trump rally, let alone a GOP event.

And so, I think what the party is going to do is to continue to embrace the Bernie Sanders supporters, but more importantly, give them a seat at the table to make sure that these issues that they talked about at the summit will be at the convention, and more importantly, these are issues that Hillary Clinton can unite the party and make sure that Bernie Sanders and his supporters are very, very in line, and more importantly, really like what they're hearing.

BLACKWELL: Let me stay with you on that point. Hillary Clinton is not the only person who's embracing Bernie Sanders supporters. Donald Trump is embracing those supporters as well, saying that Bernie Sanders is staying in the race, has not endorsed, yet because he is waiting for the FBI convention. Now, that is, you know, Trump's characterization of it.

But is there some element from the Clinton supporter that Bernie Sanders is waiting around for a shoe to drop? Maybe not an indictment, but for something else that could say, "I'm the guy you've been waiting for"?

JOHNSON: Absolutely not. Listen, Bernie Sanders has made it very, very clear that he will unite behind the nominee and he will do everything he possibly can to make sure that Democrats defeat Donald Trump in November. At a time when Donald Trump likes to throw out a lot of things and hope that they stick. I mean, for him to sort of predict what is going on on the Democratic side, I really think Donald Trump should be really dealing with some of the problems that he is facing right now, like trying to raise money for his campaign, and make sure that other people don't un-endorse him.

BLACKWELL: Amy, let's talk about that. There was the deadline that passed at midnight, $100,000 emergency fundraising effort from the Trump campaign. We're hearing that as he says listen, we would like the Republicans to come on board, we're raising a lot of money for the party but if they don't, I'll fund it myself. They seem to be inconsistent messages.

KREMER: Well, I think it's great they sent out a fundraising e-mail. Quite frankly, I think they should have done it months ago, because he shouldn't have to fund his own campaign if he doesn't want to. You know, there is all this rhetoric about the sponsors pulling out.

BLACKWELL: Apple pulled out. HP, JPMorgan Chase, Ford, big names. KREMER: Apple didn't sponsor either last cycle and they haven't made

it clear what they're going to do this cycle.

BLACKWELL: They offered $40,000 worth of computer equipment last cycle.

KREMER: Well, what I'll say about it is that Donald Trump didn't get to where he is with the Apple support. And quite honestly, I'm not surprised that Apple has done this, because we know Donald Trump went after Apple when they were doing the thing over the encryption of the phone --

BLACKWELL: Very critical.

KREMER: -- back with San Bernardino, and talked about boycotting them. So, I'm not really surprised.

But, you know, the fundraising committee for Cleveland, they've raised 90 percent of their funds with over 100 donors. So, I think that that's -- I mean, they're well on their way. I don't think there will be a problem whatsoever.

And again, it's the same thing with the delegate situation. Donald Trump didn't get to where he is with Apple and, you know, other big business sponsors. So he doesn't need them to continue on. I mean, people have put him there. And I would say about the same thing about the delegates in the convention. I mean, Donald Trump won overwhelmingly. He did not get there with the help of these people that are threatening this revolt.

BLACKWELL: All right. Amy Kremer, Tharon Johnson, always good to have you on NEW DAY.

KREMER: Great to be here.

Hey, Tharon.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Let's get you both in studio soon.

[07:20:01] JOHNSON: Absolutely. Let's make that happen very soon.

KREMER: That would be fun.

BLACKWELL: All right. Christi?

PAUL: All righty. A former Vanderbilt football player facing 25 years behind bars now for his role in a horrific attack on eye young woman. We're looking at the damning surveillance tape, that's next.

Also, was the Orlando shooting an act of terrorism or domestic gun violence. Why the answer may depend on which political party you find allegiance with.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:23:56] PAUL: Well, fury it seems is mounting over the lenient sentence given to that Stanford swimmer convicted of sexual assault, there's a very different story playing out in Nashville today. Former Vanderbilt football player Brandon Vanderburg facing up to 25 years behind bars after he was found guilty in his role of a gang rape of an unconscious female student in a dorm room back in 2013.

I want to give you a heads up and warn you. This next part is disturbing. I don't want you to be caught off-guard. The events leading up to this attack, here we go, caught on surveillance tape there. They say Vanderburg carrying the young woman out of the car, into the dormitory. Here, two of the men, we understand several members of the football team, as she is slumped over in the hallway, seems to be taking a picture of her. And she was eventually, then, taken into a dorm room.

Here they go. Now, about 30 minutes later, here is what you're going to see. Vandenburg, and somebody at some point must have realized, oh my goodness, there are video cameras, and maybe they forgot about that, we don't know.

[07:25:03] But here Vanderburg now seen leaving the room, a towel covering his face to block the cameras, and then the other men inside run out as well.

That woman stayed in Vandenburg's room. She had no memory of what happened.

CNN affiliate WZTV followed this trial, which came to an end, late last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We the jury find the defendant Brandon Vandenburg, count one, aggravated, guilty of aggravated rape.

REPORTER: It took jurors less than five hours to find Brandon Vandenburg guilty of aggravated rape, sexual battery and unlawful photography. But there are no winners.

TOM THURMAN, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: When you look at all the young lives destroyed that night based on this situation, there was so much promise, things in that room from all those individuals, and now, their lives are pretty much destroyed as to what they can accomplish.

REPORTER: Vandenburg's mother left the tears, concluding a trial that's been emotionally taxing for everyone involved.

JAN NORMAN, ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's impossible to not be emotional about this case. The facts of it are horrific. And what happened to this victim is horrifying, no matter how times you say it, no matter how many times you see it, it is horrifying every time. And nothing gets easier. I actually thinks it gets harder.

REPORTER: Prosecutors say it's a case they couldn't have made without the work of metro police. GENERAL ROGER MOORE, ASSISTANT DISTRIC ATTORNEY: Detective Mayo (ph),

Detective Kish (ph), Sergeant Shreve (ph), I can't say enough about the tremendous work they put in this case.

REPORTER: And the unwavering courage of the victim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is one of the strongest people that I know. She has incredible courage. And she is just an amazing, intelligent young woman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: And we want to thank WZTV for the report there. Four students in all were charged. Vandenburg is the second to have been found guilty. Two others are still awaiting trial.

BLACKWELL: The attack in Orlando left 49 dead, dozens injured, some still in hospitals. The politics is influencing how Republicans and Democrats interpret the massacre.

Brian Stelter has a look at that for us -- Brian.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This story, a sick confluence of events, some people choosing their own narrative, their own takeaways. We'll show you the poll results about how divided the country is, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:57] BLACKWELL: Welcome back. Bottom of the hour now. So good to have you with us. I'm Victor Blackwell.

PAUL: I'm Christi Paul.

You know, one week after the massacre in an Orlando nightclub, lawmakers now on Capitol Hill preparing to vote on gun control. The Senate will vote on four measures tomorrow, aimed to stop terrorists from buying guns. But the proposals from both Democrats and Republicans are unlikely to get the 60 votes needed to pass.

The massacre in Orlando, though, was -- it was an atrocity, plain and simple. How you interpret what it represents, though, may depend on your political leanings.

CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter, here with that.

So, this is something I know you're going to talk about on your show today, how the shooting is framed in the media and the debate over what to call it, a mass shooting or act of terror.

STELTER: Yes, you may view these new Gallup poll results as sad, a sad narrative about our country, or you might view them as just the reality of where we are today, a divided country.

Here is the result from Gallup. It asked people, do you view the incident in Orlando as more of a terrorist attack or more of an act of gun violence? You can see the Republicans largely calling it Islamic terrorism. Seventy-nine percent of Republicans answering that way. Sixteen percent of Republicans saying it's more of an act of gun violence. Democrats, on the other hand, 60 percent calling it more of an act of gun violence, 29 percent calling it more of an of Islamic terrorism.

Of course, part of the problem here I think, Christi, this poll didn't let you choose multiple options. You know, a lot of people may have chosen all of the above. Might added hate crime to the list as well.

But this poll does show how divided people are and how quickly people form opinions. Even as FBI investigators are trying to get to the bottom of what actually happened in Orlando. There were some results in the poll, though, that did show some relative unity, however. About 80 percent of Americans agreeing that suspected terrorists should not be able to buy a gun. That was the only result that I can find in the poll where there seem to be a general consensus. More often than not, we are divided when it comes to these issues.

PAUL: Obviously. Hey, Brian Stelter, we'll be looking forward to that conversation and more a little bit later today. Thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

PAUL: And, again, you can catch Brian on "RELIABLE SOURCES." It is on at 11:00 Eastern, right here on CNN today.

BLACKWELL: Well, in the wake of the Orlando attack, Donald Trump surprised some Republicans by saying he would be open to changing certain gun laws, saying those on the terror watch list should not be allowed to buy guns. But he also argues that if people in that club were armed or had they been armed, they would have been able to fight off the attacker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If some of those people had guns strapped right here, right to their waist, or right to their ankle, and this son of a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) comes out and starts shooting --

(CHEERS)

And one of the people in that room happened to have it, and goes boom, boom, you know what? That would have been a beautiful, beautiful sight, folks. That would have been a beautiful, beautiful sight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's look ahead now to "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash is hosting this weekend. That is going to be one of many topics I'm sure you're going to discuss this morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. We have one of, if not the most important ally that Donald Trump has in the U.S. Senate. Jeff Sessions, he was the first senator to endorse Donald Trump, and he has been a policy advisor. And he is not only sort of somebody who helps Donald Trump. He is also somebody who is going to have to vote on a series of measures tomorrow in the U.S. Senate about guns.

So, we're going to be talking to him about that. And of course, about where the Trump campaign is right now, why he is having -- we know why he is having so much trouble unifying Republicans, but kind of where Senator Sessions, who hears a lot of that in the halls of Congress where he thinks it will head.

[07:35:09] BLACKWELL: And we'll see how it impacts the bottom line of raising money for the campaign moving forward. Donald Trump saying, I would like to do it with the Republican Party, but if not, I'll spend the money myself, which would be hundreds of millions of his own money.

Dana Bash, looking forward to the show -- thanks so much.

BASH: Thank you. Thanks, Victor.

PAUL: Of course, the gun debate, people are very passionate about whatever side they sit on. This man, a former war vet and member of Congress, is as well. He says he knows assault weapons firsthand. Hear why he feels civilians should not own them. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Twenty-one minutes until the top of the hour now.

Tomorrow, the debate begins in the Senate over a bill that would stop people on the terror watch list from getting guns. The measure faces long odds, but supporters say the effort has new momentum after 49 people were killed in Orlando.

One of the new voices in this latest gun control fight, former marine and current congressman, Seth Moulton. He was on the cover of "The New York Daily News" this week, an Iraq war vet, he was trained to use assault style rifles, and he says they do not belong in the hands of civilians.

Congressman Moulton joins us now.

Congressman, good to have you.

REP. SETH MOULTON (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Good to be here.

BLACKWELL: So let's start with your tweet and put it up on the screen here. And you tweeted this, with the photo of yourself. I know assault rifles. I carried one in Iraq. They have no place in America's streets.

Congressman, I want to give you 15, 20 seconds to make your case.

[07:40:05] MOULTON: Look, every amendment to the Constitution has reasonable restrictions. We have reasonable restrictions on the Second Amendment already, like we don't allow other weapons of wars, grenades and land mines to be held in America.

We do to keep our community safe. Assault rifles are weapons of war as well. They don't have a place on our streets or in our schools.

BLACKWELL: All right. So I want you to hear from another former serviceman, this is a former Navy SEAL, who is speaking on behalf of the NRA in a video they have released since Orlando and the death of those 49 people. He says that it's not necessarily a weapon of war. It is a weapon of -- or a tool of self-defense. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOM RASO, FORMER NAVY SEAL: And I guarantee if the Founding Fathers known this gun would have been invented, they wouldn't have rewritten the Second Amendment, they have fortified it stone, because they knew the only way for us to stay free was by having whatever guns the bad guys have. This firearm gives average people the advantage they so desperately need and deserve to protect their life, liberty and happiness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The advantage they so desperately need. Your response to that?

MOULTON: There is an armed guard in front of the Orlando nightclub, and he wasn't able to stop this crazy man with an assault rifle. The reality is that if you look at the studies, if you look what's happened in other countries, Australia had a terrible mass shooting two decades ago, they cracked down on guns, there hasn't been a mass shooting since. States that have tougher gun laws have less gun violence.

So, there is a correlation. And, in fact, if you look at home that have guns, have more gun violence than homes that do not have them. So, really, here, we're talking about keeping our community safe and we're talking about reasonable restrictions that still protect the Second Amendment, reasonable restrictions, that nine out of ten Americans believe in.

You know, nine out of ten Americans believe you ought to have a background check if you buy a gun. We ought to make sure terrorists who are on the no-fly list can't buy guns. These are reasonable things most Americans agree with. We just need to have the courage in Washington to actually take action.

BLACKWELL: So, then, let's look specifically at the terror watch list, the 1.5 million people. Do you believe every person on that list is a terrorist or would be an attacker?

MOULTON: Well, look, this is the Republican attack. The Republicans say the list isn't perfect. Well, if that's the case, why do we even allow it to serve as a no-fly list, you know? Maybe that has something to do with the fact that these Washington lawmakers fly home every weekend and they're concerned.

If we need to fix the watch list, then let's do it. We can make this happen. But, right now, the situation is absurd.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Congressman, let me ask you, though. Shouldn't that come first, the argument, though, I don't have one on panel with me, I'm going to put the argument to you, that if there are 1.5 million people, and I put the question to you if you believe they're all terrorists or would be attackers, you did not answer in the affirmative, you would then be taking this constitutional right from people who are unduly on this list without, what they say, is the judicial oversight that is necessary. So, fix the list first and then go for the gun?

MOULTON: I fully support it. I fully support having oversight, right? But the list exists. We have a no-fly list. We admit it's not perfect, but we decided as a community, even though it's everybody's constitutional right to be able to travel around the country, we decided as a society, that we're going to err on the side of safety and make sure the people who are on that list are not allowed on airplanes.

Now, imagine if the TSA security policy where, go up to an airline counter and buy a ticket, and you have to go through security. But if you buy the ticket online, don't worry about it, just go right around, don't even bother with security.

Do you think you would get on a plane if you saw half, three quarters of the people who bought airline tickets just going right around security and getting on the plane without any security checks whatsoever? That's the way the gun laws are written right now. It is absurd.

And Democrats and Republicans recognize this. That's why I'm working with Republicans to find common ground on common sense measures to keep America communities safe.

BLACKWELL: What do you make of the argument that we heard from Donald Trump in Las Vegas, saying essentially, this crowd was out gunned, that if they had guns strapped to their ankles, that they would have been able to protect themselves and the numbers would have not -- it would the not have been as horrific as they are?

MOULTON: You know, there are already 300 million guns in America. That's almost as many guns as citizens. And yet we still have this gun violence.

The facts are when you have reasonable restrictions on firearms, I'm not talking about taking away hunting rifles, I'm not talking about getting rid of the Second Amendment. I support the Second Amendment.

The facts are when you have reasonable restrictions that most Americans, Democrats and Republicans, agree with, you'll have less gun violence. Something like over70 percent of NRA members believe that we ought to have complete, comprehensive background checks for all gun purchases.

[07:45:05] That's NRA members. And yet the NRA leadership is fighting against this. It's ridiculous.

BLACKWELL: I could hear your opposition saying that the gun laws in Chicago, the gun laws in Washington, we can expand this beyond the U.S. borders, the gun laws in Paris are some of the strictest in the world, and we can look at their homicide numbers, and they have not stopped gun violence. Your response to that?

MOULTON: Actually, there's a lot -- the fact of the matter is, there a lot less gun violence in countries in Europe that have tighter restrictions on guns. It doesn't mean it is never going to happen. It doesn't mean that a terrorist is never going to get a gun.

But what we ought to do is do whatever we can to keep Americans safe. The reality is if we have an assault weapons ban, that crazy guy in Florida would not have been able to go into a gun shop and legally purchase a gun. If we had some provision from the terror watch list that you've been on the terror watch list and you try to purchase a gun, then authorities are alerted. He also would not have been able to purchase a gun.

So, these are reasonable things that we can do as a community to keep our people safe. And that's what I'm hearing from Americans. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me in the past few days and said, "Thank you, thank you for taking action. Thank you for being willing to have a debate. Thank you for trying to keep our community safe."

BLACKWELL: All right. Representative Seth Moulton, thanks so much for being with us on NEW DAY.

MOULTON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Christi?

PAUL: Well, a police department of a major city, loses, think about this, its third police chief in eight days. This, of course, amid claims of elicit sex and text messages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:22] PAUL: We have to read this twice to make sure we're reading it correctly.

The police department of a major California city has devolved into chaos. Listen to the frustration of the mayor of Oakland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LIBBY SCHAAF, OAKLAND MAYOR: As the mayor of Oakland, I am here to run a police department, not a frat house. Today continues to be a day where we're sharing disturbing information with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes. And what's the disturbing information? She was losing the third chief of police in eight days. Three chiefs, eight days, all this amid claims of elicit sex and racist text messages.

Our affiliate KGO has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, KGO)

REPORTER: The SFPD will only say it is an aware of an investigation to see if any members of its department had inappropriate contact with a young victim who goes by the name Celeste Guap (ph). Reliable sources tell ABC 7 News that the review involves several officers who joined SFPD as laterals, where officers who are members of another police force, in this case we're told they are former members of the Oakland police department.

This on the heels of the announcement by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf she fired the interim police chief Ben Fairow whom she appointed only six days ago. Reason, he reportedly had an extramarital affair more than a decade ago.

This is ramped up an already chaotic and astonishing change of events at a department that's under federal oversight. So far, five Oakland cops have been placed on leave while they're being investigated in connection with a sex scandal. Investigations extend to the Richmond Police Force, and now the Alameda County D.A.'s office has placed one of its investigators, former OPD captain Rick Orozco on leave in connection with the case.

NOEL GALLO, OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL: For me, the most serious challenge right here is, you know, the violation of young girls.

REPORTER: City Councilman Noel Gallo represents International Boulevard in Oakland, a hangout for prostitutes, pimps, and johns. Gallo says many are now coming forward, saying there's more to this story.

GALLO: There are people engaged in prostitution and are coming forth to say, yes, you know, this happened, that happened at this place, that place.

REPORTER: With officers?

GALLO: With officers.

REPORTER: Gallo says he's given the information to Oakland police.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Reporter Vic Lee there in Oakland, California.

BLACKWELL: Tonight is the season three premiere of CNN original series, "THE HUNT." John Walsh is on the trail of William Greer who is charged with killing his girlfriend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He seemed very panicked, wild eyed, we put him in the back of the car, tried to keep him warm, tried to figure things out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got any idea how you got in the ditch?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, 55 miles per hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to see my wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was an accident. Oh my heart, I'd give me life right now in one second to have her back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where was the accident?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gun just went off.

PAUL LASCO: He kept repeating that the gun just went off. I think he even mentioned I watched her die or something along those lines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love her so much. I love her so much. I can't believe it. But there's a divine reason for this. She was ready but I am not ready for her to go. I love her with all my heart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is her full name, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tammy Marie Myers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: John Walsh is back. Join John in the hunt for fugitives on the run and help expand the global investigation. Every tip you provide helps take fugitives off the street.

"THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH" returns with an all new season tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CNN.

PAUL: Of course, you know what else is on tonight -- NBA finals game seven.

HLN's Melissa Knowles previewing why this game is so historic.

MELISSA KNOWLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Christi? The city of Cleveland has not had a championship in more than five decades, but the warriors want to put a damper on the party for the second straight year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:07] PAUL: Winner-take-all in game seven tonight for the NBA finals.

BLACKWELL: Looking forward to it, Warriors/Cavaliers. Melissa Knowles here with a preview of the historic game.

KNOWLES: Very historic indeed, good morning you two.

So, there's only one game left on the basketball calendar. It is for all the marbles and bragging rights. It's going to make history regardless of who wins. Not only would LeBron James and the Cavs would be the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the finals, they are one victory away from ending Cleveland's 52-year sports championship drought.

Meantime, unanimous league MVP Steph Curry and Golden State are looking to cap their record-setting regular season with a second straight championship.

So, who's going to win? Well, the so-called experts in Las Vegas like the Warriors on their home floor by five points.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

STEPHEN CURRY, WARRIORS GUARD: We need our best basketball for 48 minutes to end the season and hopefully with a "W."

LEBRON JAMES, CAVALIERS FORWARD: We put our self in a position to do something special. I mean, it's not -- we all can -- you guys ask me the questions but you know the answers to them. I mean, if we win, we take care of business, you know, something that our city hasn't had in a very long time. So, that's the obvious. You know, you don't need me to step here and talk about it.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

KNOWLES: So, how much would you pay to sit courtside tonight and watch this epic battle? How about almost 50,000 bucks? That's right. No, not going to do it. Get that checkbook out.

All right. The VIP ticket sold for $49,500 on Friday, according to StubHub, and they say it's the most expensive ticket ever resold for a seat not located in a suite. The buyer bought two of those seats, you can't just one. You got to have a date, right? You can buy a three- bedroom house in a Cleveland suburb or quarter acre lot in Oakland, no house, just a lot for that amount of money.

PAUL: Something to think about.

Hey, Melissa, thank you so much.

KNOWLES: You're welcome.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Melissa.

PAUL: All righty. Thank you so much for starting your morning with us. Happy Father's Day to all of you out there including my dad. Love you dad.

BLACKWELL: Aww. Happy Father's Day, dad.