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EARLY START

ISIS Claims Responsibility For London Attack; U.K. Elections Still Set For Thursday; Arrests Follow London Terror Attack; Trump Eases Rhetoric On London Attack; Trump Pushing $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan. Aired 3:30-4a ET

Aired June 5, 2017 - 03:30   ET

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


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[03:31:10] THERESA MAY, BRITAIN PRIME MINISTER: There is to be frank, far too much tolerance of extremism in our country.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A frank assessment from British Prime Minister Theresa May, she's calling for major, major changes to U.K.'s antiterrorist strategy after another attack, the third in ten weeks. We are live with more in London right now.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you this Monday morning. 31 minutes past the hour, a lot to get to. In this morning, a major reset in London's war on terror, Prime Minister Theresa May calling for a sweeping review of Britain's counter terrorist strategy her vow to ramp up to country's terror response comes to the wake of a deadly new attack in the U.K., the third in less than three months, the second in as many weeks.

Overnight police conducting new raids in east London. Now this is on top of the earlier raids Sunday. They say they have a dozen people in custody and a huge amount of forensic material to go through.

BRIGGS: At least seven people were killed, 48 others injured in the rampage. ISIS has claimed responsibility but offered up no evidence to back that up. Britain's general election will go ahead as scheduled on Thursday against the backdrop of the heightened concern over terrorism. This is now a central issue in those elections.

Let's bring in CNN's Frederik Pleitgen, one of the first reporters there on the scene. Good morning to you, Fred, an all too familiar situation for the people there in the U.K. Good morning.

FREDRIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Dave. Certainly, is an all too familiar situation especially if you look at the past ten weeks. This is the third major attack happening in London. And second one at iconic London site. We of course have that attack in Westminster in late April.

And as you've know, the British Prime Minister Theresa May has come out and said, that yes, the terrorism laws on this country will be reviewed. She also said that quite frankly the response to the attack she thought was absolutely adequate and actually worked quite well. The authorities are moving very quickly. But she also said that more things specifically need to change.

Here is what she said. She said, "Pluralistic British Values' Must Defeat Islamist Extremism. Democratic governments must regulate Cyberspace." So, obviously going into the war on terror in cyberspace as well. "Military action to destroy ISIS abroad, less tolerance of extremism in the United Kingdom." She said there's too much tolerism of extremism in generally here in this country. And she said, "A full review of counter terrorism strategies", so police have all the powers they need. That they said is very important.

As you all know the investigation is moving very quickly. We're not getting many much information so far or many details as to how that investigation is moving forward, simply that there's a lot of forensic evidence that's being collected. Or course one of the things after the Manchester attack was that a lot of the leaks actually came from the United States. The Brits were very angry at that. And that's something we're not seeing this time. It's a very little information that we're getting. But they are saying that they're moving forward very quickly and gathering a lot of very valuable evidence, Dave.

BRIGGS: Fred, they will not postpone Thursday's elections, how central an issue is now terror in those elections?

PLEITGEN: Yes. An absolutely central and essential issue in those elections. So, the two main political parties, the two big ones here in this country move forward very quickly to say, of course of the election is taking place. Of course terrorism will not derail that election. The man who is running against Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn of the Labor Party came out and even called this election a fight between terrorism and British values.

So, he's saying it's between terrorism and freedom. And so certainly the election is moving forward. But yes, internal security, terrorism has become a major issue in that election especially after the Manchester attack. And now once again, with this one and with the election so close, of course it's set to take place on June 8th. So, it's going to be very interesting to see there.

[03:35:04] But yes, it's a very central issue to that election. But the Brits, of course, also emphasizing the fact that there's absolutely no way that a terror attack like this one or the one in Manchester would derail such an important Democratic process, Dave.

BRIGGS: And those polls also are tightening ahead of those elections. Fred, thank you.

ROMANS: Right. The dozens wounded in the attack. 36 people were still being treated at London hospitals overnight, thirty-six and 21 of those we can tell you are listed in critical condition.

For the latest on the victims and their stories, CNN's Erin McLaughin is standing by for us outside King's College Hospital in south London, good morning. ERIN MCLAUGHIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christine. And we are learning the tragic story of Christy Archibald, one of seven killed in this horrific attack. Christy was from Canada. She worked in the homeless shelter there. She traveled to Europe to be with her fiance. She was on the London Bridge the night of the attack struck and killed by the terrorist van.

Her family releasing a statement saying she was beautiful and loving. She would have no understanding of the callus cruelty that led to her death. We're also hearing more about the victims wounded from 14 being treated here at the King's College Hospital including 23-year- old Daniel O'Neil, his mother is speaking out and saying that he is in shock.

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ELISABETH O'NIEL, MOTHER OF LONDON ATTACK VICTIM: He was in shock now. I sit to him is because, he don't believe it's happening to anyone. He thinks other people are going to find it hard. And he feels very bad that he's alive while others have died.

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MCLAUGHIN: She said that she's trying to find the police officers that came to Daniel's aid to help stop the bleeding after he was stabbed, one of 36 people being treated across hospitals in London, Christine.

ROMANS: And we certainly wish those people who are still being treated, a speedy recovery. Certainly, their recovery from emotional wounds will take longer. Thank you.

BRIGGS: All right, 200 miles northwest of London Bridge, emotions were raw at the One Love Manchester Concert hosted by Ariana Grande. At her concert two weeks ago as you know a suicide bomber killed 22 people many of them children. Last night with the world watching the young pop star made a defiant return delivering a touching tribute to the victims.

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(SINGING)

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BRIGGS: As you can see many tears shed there yesterday. Let's go live to Manchester and bring in CNN's Phil Black. Phil, emotions particularly raw being that there was yet another terror attack in London. Good morning to you.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning. The organizers were determined to go ahead despite the fact there had been attack in London really because of it, they said it was continuing with greater purpose. And so, they successfully brought together this incredible line up of international pop super stars. It wasn't just Ariana Grande, there was Farrell Williams, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, really an incredible line up.

They would have made for an incredible concert anywhere on any day. But this was Manchester, just two weeks after the attack here. Two weeks after an apparent suicide bomber targeted Ariana Grande's fans and their parents. And yet still, 50,000 people turned out for this, many of the people who are at Grande's original concert who'd heard the explosion that night.

Some of them were injured, maybe inexperienced the panic that followed. It was, as you say, hugely emotional. There was a lot of sorrow. But overwhelmingly this was also a joyful celebration of a city that has had little reason of happiness recently. Outside, there was a huge security operation keeping all of these people safe. On the streets there were police everywhere including very heavily armed officers who were there just in case someone tries to interfere.

Everyone was screened as they went in. Everyone was searched individually. It all went incredibly smoothly though. It was a success. It raised a lot of money for the people who were affected. And it was powerful rejection of the violence that has taken and traumatized lives not just in Manchester but most recently in London as well, Dave.

BRIGGS: You are spot on, Phil. It was powerful, as emotional concert as we will ever see. We'll check back with you next hour. And when Coldplay sang at the end, the entire crowd, Christine, took over and sang. You can just feel human spirit.

ROMANS: Yes. Yes. You really could. Let's bring on CNN, Law Enforcement Analyst James Gagliano. He's a retired FBI supervisor special agent and adjunct professor at St. John's University. OK. There was a car attack at Westminster. Then there was the Manchester attack at that -- after that concert. And then there was this, this Borough Market and the London Bridge. What's going on in England?

[03:40:04] JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAS ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think the British prime minister struck the perfect tone. We have to call this what this is and folks to come down in both sides of the political ideology here. We can't whistle past the graveyard and pretend there's not a trend here that needs to be dealt with. And at the same talk, we can't reflexively tweet in the moment before all the facts come in.

ROMANS: Like the president?

GAGLIANO: Indeed. I thought his second tweet was spot on and measured inappropriate. I thought his first one during the tag of war. I don't think that's appropriate.

From the law enforcement perspective, we have to presume terrorism. But, from our perspective now in the press as well as from the government, on perspective of how we engage with citizens, we have to be careful about our words.

ROMANS: I'll say that the Metropolitan police then sort of went out very quickly and said we need to conduct this investigation and, you know. Please don't be sharing this information or information about this, and you don't know if they were talking specifically about the president of the United State or others. But they hadn't said who these attackers are yet. Presumably with these raids going on, they're trying to find every person who might have help with this.

GAGLIANO: Christine, there's a purpose for that. Law enforcement must be very careful about the information that gets meddled out to the public. There's somethings that we want put out there because we want to seek the assistance to the public in helping put the pieces of the puzzle together.

In other instances, we may be close to someone. We don't have the evidence to make an arrestment, that can make an arrest, and we don't want that name or that particular cell of the information put out to public just so that the bad guys know about it and they can disappear.

BRIGGS: From a law enforcement standpoint, you have to applaud the reaction. Eight minutes after the original call, these three gunmen had been shot and killed. But let's turn to the larger narrative. If you turn back a couple of weeks ago, it was thought that the U.K. was difficult to attack, more difficult that almost any location in the Europe because of what they do with the boarder, because of the surveillance and the police force. So, how are they being attacked, is it as difficult as one stuff?

GAGLIANO: Dave, we are residing in the age of ISIS. And the paradigm has changed completely. The days of Carlos the Jackal or having his fingerprints literally on the terrorist attack itself are over. ISIS employs a strategy, which is centralized intent which they put out on their laptops. They putout through the cyber sphere, and then decentralized the execution. So, any disenfranchise, disaffected youngster that reads it, here's that clearing call can act (ph).

ROMANS: I want to play this sound by where she talks about cyberspace regulation Theresa May, because this is weaponized information. It's weaponized free speech, the thing that is the most important thing oxygen for democracy, is the very thing terrorist are exploiting.

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MAY: We need to work with allies Democratic governments to reach international agreements that regulates cyberspace, to prevent the spread of extremism and terrorism planning. And we need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremist online.

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ROMANS: Now, Facebooks and others have said that they wanted to be hostile to terrorist, but they complain in law enforcement has been that they're not hostile enough.

GAGLIANO: Right. And Christine, in United States and in the west, we can't arrest people for thought. And therein lies the rob because people go, "Wait a minute, these folks were in your radar. They're on a watch list. You had surveillance on them", and that's right. But, until they make an over react, until something happens that we can actually apply the law to, we can't arrest people. We can't arrest them for looking at a web site.

BRIGGS: Are there things that we're doing here that they're not doing in the U.K?

GAGLIANO: No. The U.K., Dave, is part of the five eyes. So, you got Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K and the U.S. We share intelligence completely. Anything the U.K. knows right now about this terrorist attack, the U.S. has that information. Now, likewise, anything that happens here is being shared with them. We share practices, protocols, methods, skill sets, as well as any type of list of potential terrorist that need to be focused on.

BRIGGS: So, we're as vulnerable to these types sub of attacks as they are in the U.K?

GAGLIANO: In our country we are, I mean again let's say the argument of the second amendment, you know, you weren't expecting any of the gunshots that occurred in the U.K to be coming from armed citizens. But, in United States, with the proliferation of guns even someone is not able to buy a gun can still purchase a car or a machete.

ROMANS: Yes. The car thing is what really is the concerning when look at the list of all of the terror attack involving cars. We know this is at risk. You know, how do cities and countries change? I mean do you have to close bridges, you know, in the evening? Do you have to make sure that you have guardrails for pedestrian safe zones? I man is that feasible?

GAGLIANO: Go back to Leonard Courtney's famous quote, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." And really it has to be distilled down to the granular level on the street because the counter terrorism professionals aren't in every street corner. New York City Police Department is excellent, 36,000 cops. But they're not in every street corner. It takes each citizens, folks on every street being aware of their surroundings.

[03:45:04] ROMANS: All right. James Gagliano, thank you so much for being here, great insight.

BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, moments after the London attack, President Trump used the incident for new calls for his travel ban, that response, next.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We renew our resolve stronger than ever before to protect the United States and its allies from the vile enemy that has waged war on innocent life and it's gone on too long. This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end.

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ROMANS: In measured there I say presidential response. President Trump sounding more diplomatic last night there after heavy criticism for his initial response to the London terror attack.

At first, the president retweeted a drudge report headline about terror in London. So, he retweeted a drudge headline first. Then, he used the attack to call for reinstatement of his travel ban now blocked by the courts, "We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the travel ban as an extra level of safety."

[03:50:04] BRIGGS: Then, the president gave a supportive message offering U.S. help to Britain but it wasn't long before he was back on offense calling out the mayor of London Sadiq Khan for saying this.

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SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR, LONDON: London, as we'll see an increased police presence today and of the course of the next few days. No reason to be alarmed. One of the things that police and all of us need to be is to make sure we're safe as we possibly can be.

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BRIGGS: Now, that phrase you heard, no reason to be alarmed sent the president back to Twitter. Trump is slamming Mayor Khan. "At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack, and mayor of London says there is no reason to be alarmed."

ROMANS: The mayor spokesman pushing back sharply fair to say said Mayor Khan has more important things to do than to responding Donald Trump's ill-informed tweet.

BRIGGS: Finally, late yesterday, it made of course of criticism over the president response, the acting U.S. ambassador to Great Britain stepping in writing this. "I commend the strong leadership of the mayor of London as he leads the city forward after this heinous attack."

ROMANS: All right. President Trump planning a series of White House events and a trip to Ohio this week to launch his $1 trillion infrastructure improvement campaign. He'll kick things off later this morning in east room.

BRIGGS: Now, the president and staff hoping to take the focus off of potentially damaging testimony from James Comey on Thursday. The fired FBI director expected to tell a Senate Committee whether the president tried to interfere with the bureau's Russia investigation.

CNN will have live coverage of Comey's testimony beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Thursday morning, EARLY START will be especially early once again Thursday and Friday beginning at 3:00 a.m. Eastern time.

ROMANS: We can call it early, EARLY START.

BRIGGS: Early, EARLY START once again.

ROMANS: Early, EARLY START. All right. Gulf States like Saudi Arabia and the UAE breaking diplomatic ties with Qatar and that's causing economic shock waves on the market after oil markets and for airlines. We've got that at CNN Newsroom, next.

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[03:55:21] ROMANS: Protests in Portland in the wake of last month racially charge subways stubbing at least 14 people arrested Sunday when competing demonstrations collided. A members of pro-Trump free speech rally clashing with counter protesters who considered the rally racist. The group said to be separated by wall of heavily armed local and federal officers and body armor. Those officers using pepper spray when protesters began throwing bottles and bricks at them.

BRIGGS: And then in sports, the Golden State Warriors, crushing the Cleveland Cavaliers 132 to 113 Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Once again, just too much Kevin Durant. Also, Steph Curry, his first career playoff triple header. He was unbelievable with this series looks like it comes down to Kevin Durant. Is there any way to stop Golden State turns the ball over 20 times in Game 2? But, it does not matter, they win by 21, despite Lebron James own triple double this series 0-2, headed to Cleveland for Game 3.

ROMANS: So, Lebron played well?

BRIGGS: Lebron played almost perfect. Kevin Love played great. Golden State is just -- may be the greatest team ever assembled.

ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on CNN Money Stream displaying the terror attack on London sending global stocks and the British pound lower. Despite Wall Street hitting fresh record highs, Friday stocks shred of a mixed job reports to close their records.

Jobless rate hit a 16 year low in May with labor force shrank in hiring slowed. In fact, February to May experience its slowest growth in the past three years. Right now, the U.S. stock features are lower.

And breaking overnight, oil prices up more than 1 percent after four Arabs states cutting off ties with Qatar, the region is major exporter of crude oil. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed links with Qatar for its supposed support of terrorism. Not just oil market, it would also cause shock waves for the airline industry. At Etihad Airways (INAUDIBLE) announcing it will suspend all flights to in from Qatar. Two other airlines in the region Emirates and Qatar Airways didn't immediately respond to comment.

Writers are criticizing Uber for taking too long to turn off surge pricing after the London attack. The social media backlash was intense. The commentator said the company should have stopped hiking prices immediately. The company said the disabled surge pricing is soon it was made aware extending it to all of central London of only an hour and a half after the attack.

The point of surge pricing of course, dynamic pricing, as the company calls it. It's meant to attract drivers to places where your need a lot of service quickly. So, if you charge a higher fare that attracts the drives quickly. So, you can really ramp up your service. But in the wake of a terror attack with people are trying to get out of there that scene is insensitive.

BRIGGS: And we should have an Uber reporter at this point. It's been a busy either for them.

ROMANS: You're right.

BRIGGS: EARLY START continues right now.

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MAY: It is time to say enough is enough, our society to continue to function in accordance with our values. But when it comes to take on extremism and terrorism, things need to change.

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BRIGGS: Another strong reaction from the British prime minister. How will the U.K shift its approach to fighting terror after yet another attack? New raids overnight. EARLY START has live complete coverage beginning right now.

Good morning, and welcome to EARLY START everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday. It is the 5th of June, 4:00 a.m. on the east.

In this morning major reset in London's war on terror. The Prime Minister Theresa May calling for a sweeping review of Britain's counter terrorism strategy, her vowed to ramp up the country's terror response comes to the wake of a deadly new attack, a new attack in the U.K., the third in ten weeks, the second in as many weeks. Overnight, police conducting new raids in east London, new raids on top of those earlier raids, we told you about on Sunday. Authorities say they had a dozen people in custody and huge amount of forensic materials to set through.

BRIIGS: At least seven people were killed, 48 others injured in the rampage. ISIS has claimed responsibility, but offered up no evidence to back that up. Britain's general election will go ahead as scheduled on Thursday, now against the backdrop of heightened concern over terrorism.

Let's bring in CNN's Frederik Pleitgen, one of the first reporters there on the scene. He is live for us in London. Fred, an all-too- familiar reaction from the folks there in London?

[03:59:56] PLEITGEN: Yes. Absolutely. Unfortunately, something like this is all too familiar with the folks in London. But one of the things you can really see about London is that the people here are extremely defiant, you know. There's a lot of people who are out here. Morning commutes are going for people exactly as they had plan before. So, certainly, this is a city that showing that it will not be derailed by terrorism.

At the same --