Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

ISIS Claims Responsibility for London Attack; 36 People in London Hospitals, 21 in Critical Condition; Ariana Grande Benefit Show Goes on After London Attack; Trump Criticizes London Mayor After Attack; Comey to Testify Thursday; Aired 8-9p ET

Aired June 4, 2017 - 20:00   ET

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


[20:00:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: This is also new information. Most of the 11 people arrested so far following this terror incident are women. London police say they have been raiding apartments in the barking section of the city looking for people who know the attackers and who may have helped them in their deadly rampage.

Witnesses say three men drove this van across busy London Bridge, plowing into people, aiming for them, trying to kill them. After crashing the van, the men then set out on foot with knives stabbing and slashing more people before London police shot all three of them dead.

The entire horrible incident lasted just 15 minutes.

Let's go live to London right now. CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is there and CNN senior national correspondent Alex Marquardt.

Nic, I just mentioned ISIS has claimed responsibility for this attack. How are they making that claim and what role are they saying they played?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, they're making it on a Web site they used before but they put no -- they put forward no sort of details on how they could make this claim credible. There's nothing there that makes the claim credible whatsoever. They haven't mentioned the names, they haven't put their faces up. They haven't put statements forward from these people.

So at the moment you have to look at this claim by ISIS and put it to one side and wait for the police investigation to run its course. The police say that this investigation is moving with speed, that they believe that they are able to identify these three attackers. Indeed they've been to four premises, raided four premises in the east of London today. They've arrested 12 people. Of those 12 one has been released. Significantly seven of them were women. But if you look at the ages of the people who are arrested and the police have released those ages, there were six people there, three male, three female, in their mid to late 50s, one of them was 60.

And what we've seen before after attacks like this is the police raid the premises where the attackers were most recently living, close friends and associates. It appears to be that's what they may have done this time as well -- Ana.

CABRERA: And they're still not releasing the identity or any information about those attackers, as you mentioned, Nic. Now this is the third terror attack in the United Kingdom in three months. What is the response from the Theresa May government?

ROBERTSON: Theresa May says this is a new type of terrorism. We have to combat it in a new way. She said there are four ways to do that. We must -- we have difficult conversations in communities where she said extremism is tolerated. She wants to see, you know, increased military strikes on the areas that ISIS operates in the world, Iraq and Syria. She wants to close down the Internet space, she calls it, where ISIS is able to recruit people. She wants to put international pressure on Internet service providers, social media companies she said should be -- should work harder to prevent extremist groups, propagating their propaganda on their sites.

And the other thing that she said, and this is something that will resonate with her base here in Britain is she wants potentially to have stronger legislation for the police and the intelligence services because she says this terror threat has changed. And therefore the way that Britain needs to tackle it must change. And that could mean tougher legislation.

CABRERA: Nic Robertson in London for us. Thank you.

There was chaos, there was confusion all around London especially on London Bridge last night during these attacks. One man talked earlier with our Becky Anderson about what he saw when he came upon the scene just shortly after the violence began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYSON OLADOKUN, EYEWITNESS: As I drove closer towards the incident I saw a man lying on the floor. He was cradled by another man and had blood on his chest. At first it looked like a bicycle accident or motor accident. But as I moved closer towards him I could tell that the blood was concentrated in his chest area. So it looked like he had been stabbed.

I saw another person lying down next to him. And they had covered his head with a blanket. But it looked like this guy may have died. We were stuck there for around 30 minutes or so. We weren't moving. There was a lot of commotion. People were going crazy. The police seemed relatively calm at the time. It was only subsequently I saw quite a lot of police. And they were chasing people across the bridge. This was normal civilians, normal pedestrians, over the bridge and screaming at them to run, run, run for your lives, terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: 48 people were wounded in these attacks, 36 remain in the hospital including 21 people in critical condition.

CNN's senior international correspondent Alexander Marquardt is near London Bridge. [20:05:02] Alexander, what are you now learning about the victims?

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, that's right. Most of the people who were wounded last night are still in the hospital. As you mentioned, 21 in critical condition, which means that the death toll which now stands at seven could potentially still rise.

Now we're not being told too much about the identities of those who are still in the hospital, of the wounded. But we are starting to hear some of their stories including one about a British transportation police officer who according to his boss, the chief constable, stood down and went after the attackers with just his baton. He had been on the job for just two years an tonight is being commended for his courage.

CNN also spoke with the mother of one of the wounded, Elizabeth O'Neill, who said that her son Daniel is struggling with what happened last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH O'NEILL, MOTHER OF VICTIM: He only stepped outside the pub for a second. And a man ran up to him and said, this is for my family, for Islam. Looked him straight in the face and stabbed him. Daniel pulled back. Then he went into the pub. He wasn't really aware he had been stabbed. Then there were shouts for everybody to get down on the floor. And then they had to go downstairs into the pub. And his friends had a tourniquet on him. And they were holding pressure. Brought him downstairs. Parts of it he doesn't remember.

When the police came, two police officers had him in the back of the car. If it wasn't for his friends' quick action and for the police who have been absolutely fantastic and I thank God to them all night Daniel -- I don't think Daniel would be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Elizabeth O'Neill also telling CNN that Daniel is suffering from survivor's guilt. For her part, Elizabeth would like to meet the police officers who saved her son to thank them -- Ana.

CABRERA: So moving. Alex Marquardt, thank you.

A few numbers I want to bring to you from this latest terror incident in the United Kingdom. Three attackers they are all dead. Seven innocent people just walking on London Bridge or spending a Saturday night at a restaurant, they're also dead.

Dozens of people are hurt, many of them critically. And 11 people are now in custody. Police in London are working to figure out their connection to the attackers and if they played any part in the terror.

CNN law enforcement and former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow is here with us. Also our national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem.

Jonathan, in a place like London.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes.

CABRERA: On a Saturday night, it's a beautiful evening. People are not ever going to be thinking that something like this could happen.

WACKROW: Yes.

CABRERA: And it comes at a time where they're using a van and knives. How on earth do you stop that from happening?

WACKROW: Well, listen, these are very dynamic situations. Law enforcement is, you know, looking and searching for a way to respond to this changing face and changing tactics of terrorism. If I couldn't look back at the last six months we're seeing vehicles being weaponized. We're seeing knives being utilized to cause terror. Again this is the, you know, third attack we've seen in, you know, Great Britain.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: In Great Britain.

WACKROW: Exactly. One location. But throughout Europe. I mean, look at what happened in Nice, the truck attack there. Now look at the people that they have in custody, mostly women. So the face of terrorism is changing. The tactics are changing. Law enforcement needs to have the tools and the intelligence to counter that.

CABRERA: Juliette, these attackers killed seven people. Again they rented a truck. They used some knives. You can buy at any store. If ISIS is indeed to blame for this -- they've claimed responsibility. There's no proof that they are behind it but does it say something about the state of that group that they've gone low tech with this attack.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think they've gone all tech at this stage. I think that if you put, you know, a lot of attacks going on during Ramadan not just in the west but of course in Iraq and elsewhere you're seeing high tech, low tech, easy, coordinated, you know, lone wolf. I mean, it really is all of the above unfortunately. And what that means is of course from the perspective of law enforcement and public safety you don't exactly know what is the exact threat you're looking for.

So in London was as we were saying last night, you know, it was -- you know, it was orchestrated amongst three men but all they had to do was buy a car and get some knives. So that's sort of coordinated but it's not lone wolf. And so I think that's the challenge right now is that it is sort of all of the above and that means that you're going to have to minimize the risk in these big public spaces. Know that you cannot make soft targets hard, otherwise you won't be able to go out and live our lives.

And then also as we've been talking about is really focus on the response capabilities of police officers, ambulances, public health to protect those who might be in harm's way.

[20:10:06] CABRERA: Jonathan, the response of police law enforcement has been widely praised in this incident. But you know what it's like to mitigate risk.

WACKROW: Absolutely.

CABRERA: The main focus now is how do you prevent something like this? And obviously for these individuals they were able to do what they did in the preparation under the radar. Anybody can rent a truck, anybody can purchase some knives.

WACKROW: Well, when you start looking at all these incidents, law enforcement, you know, on their heels. They're being reactive to situations. They have to become more proactive. They have to -- you know, through different legislation have more intelligence gathering capabilities to get ahead of these -- of these identified threats.

Listen, we know that the tactics are changing. Last six months have proven that. Law enforcement needs every single pathway available, every single resource available to them to identify these vulnerabilities and then develop mitigation plans. You know, protection of soft targets, how do we do it. Just a week or two ago in Times Square we saw a car ram into the sidewalk. It was not terrorism-related but again it speaks to protecting soft targets and allowing police and emergency responders to have every resource available to respond to these dynamic and, you know, quickly changing situations.

CABRERA: And we talk about resources, Theresa May, the British prime minister, laid out some potential solutions in her mind. She says, you know, we need to work together to regulate cyber space. She also even talked about Britain potentially changing some of the laws to be able to more aggressively go after these attackers including potentially longer detention for terror suspects.

Juliette, do you think those types of things would be effective?

KAYYEM: It simply depends. You know, obviously, I just have to say that you need to use every -- you know, give law enforcement every available resource, it doesn't work that way. I mean, in these constitutional democracies, one of the reasons why law enforcement doesn't have all the tools that they would necessarily want is because people have an expectation to privacy or right to assembly. And I think so part of the challenge is figuring out at what stage, right, do you want to give government the authorities and what kind of review do you want and how (INAUDIBLE) those authorities.

I will say Theresa May gave more of a political speech than I think policy speech. I don't exactly know what she meant by, you know, we need -- she said enough is enough. And I think that was maybe just a cue because they're in the middle of this election. But I think one of the reasons why a place like Britain or the United States doesn't give law enforcement all the resources is because there are very important counter veiling needs and counter veiling policies. And we can't just say, well, because of a terrorism incident we have to give them all the tools they need.

We have to support law enforcement and intelligence agencies but we also have to realize that these are, you know, legal democracies with, you know, people with the expectations of privacy and the freedom of speech and freedom of religion. That's the challenge we've had in this country for a long time. It's not unique to us today. And certainly ISIS doesn't pose the same existential threat than, say, you know, nuclear Armageddon or the Nazis, you know, last century. So I think that's the challenge.

CABRERA: All right. Got to leave it there. Juliette Kayyem and Jonathan Wackrow, I was determined to get your name right.

WACKROW: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Thank you both for being with us.

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: Now despite the horrible attack in central London there has been this beautiful benefit concert for the people affected by the other attack that happened in England at the Ariana Grande concert just couple of weeks ago. This concert went on and we'll be live in Manchester with the highlights next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[20:17:51] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually all of Muslims today who were in the mosques praying. They were probably breaking their fast. So I mean, I want to know what's going on in the communities and I want to see this stuff I don't believe they're the actual believers or followers of the religion that's teaching love and peace and unity. Therefore I just see them as cowards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The Brits are determined to not be terrorized by -- following last night's deadly attack that killed seven innocent people. ISIS now claimed responsibility for the attacks.

CNN international anchor Becky Anderson caught up with one Londoner who said Manchester showed them how to respond to violent acts of terror like last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ANGELL, WITNESS, LONDON TERROR ATTACK: And we're going to carry on loving each other, living with each other, being from all different parts of the world in a melting pot that is London. And I'm going to go back to the restaurant and I hope other people do, too, because if us -- you know, drink gin and tonics and flirting with handsome men and being friends with brilliant and powerful women offends these people so much that they do these barbaric and cowardly acts I'm going to go back and we do more, not less.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good for you.

ANGELL: And that's what London is going to do. And we're going to pull together. Manchester showed brilliant stuff for the last two weeks. It's London's turn. And we're up for the fight.

ANDERSON: You are such a tough boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Meantime less than 24 hours after the chaos of the terror attack in London the sound of musical harmony rose from a stadium in another British city.

What a voice. Singer Ariana Grande closed out her benefit concert in Manchester performing the classic "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The concert raised funds for the victims of the May 22nd attack. The last time she performed that's when a suicide bomber killed 22 people and wounded dozens of others.

Grande shared a touching moment she shared with the mother of a little girl who lost her life during the May terrorist attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIANA GRANDE, POP SINGER: And I want to offer a prayer, I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia's mommy a few days ago.

[20:20:06] And as soon as I met her I started crying. I gave her a big hug. And she said that I should stop crying because Olivia wouldn't have wanted me to cry. She told me that Olivia would have wanted to hear the hits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN international correspondent Phil Black is joining us now there from the venue in Manchester.

Phil, you were there at that concert. Describe for us how that felt.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, you hear that figure, 50,000 people. And it's impressive. But it really doesn't do justice to the reality. To see that sea of humanity moving and singing as one. To feel the waves of noise and emotion coming off them. This was an emotional joyous event in a city that has had little reason for happiness lately. There were so many special moments. Here are some of the highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRANDE: I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia's mommy a few days ago. As soon as I met her I started crying. I gave her a big hug. She said that I should stop crying because love I can't wouldn't have wanted me to cry. And then she told me that Olivia would have wanted to hear the hits. Thank you so much for coming together and being so loving and strong

and unified.

KATY PERRY, SINGER: It's not easy to always choose love, is it? Tell them, I love you. Look at -- look in their eyes, say, I love you.

WILL.I. AM, SINGER: All these people who are fearless who came for love, we will not be separated.

JUSTIN BIEBER, SINGER: I just want to take this moment to honor the people that were lost, that were -- that were taken. We love you so much. To the families we love you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACK: And while all of that was happening there was of course a huge security operation taking place at the same time to insure that all of those people were safe on the streets, around the venue there were police everywhere. We saw very heavily armed officers patrolling on foot who were here just in case someone tried to interfere with this event. No one did. It was a complete success. It all went incredibly smoothly and it was a very powerful statement against the types of violence that have seen here in Manchester and more recently in London as well -- Ana.

CABRERA: No doubt about it. Phil Black, thank you.

Now in the wake of the London attack the president's response on Twitter has many crying foul. We'll tell you what he said and the reaction next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:28:02] CABRERA: Embarrassing, cold, heartless. Those are just some of the words being used to describe President Trump's reaction to the London terror attack. His response began shortly after the incident happened when the president tweeted this.

"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."

Now today President Trump went on to call out the mayor of London, writing, "At least seven dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and mayor of London says there is no reason to be alarmed."

Well, the president's tweet misconstrued what Mayor Sadiq Khan actually said. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining me now to talk about the president's reaction to this attack, CNN global affairs analyst and online news director for the "New Yorker," David Rohde.

So, David, you've just published this new piece for the "New Yorker" called, "What Donald Trump can do to help stop terrorism, less talk."

DAVID ROHDE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's a reference to some of the things that you just mentioned there. I mean, it was a surprising response immediately and actually let me be clear about one thing. This message, you know, he's getting out immediately there needs to be a travel ban which is about Muslims, and then he's attacking the mayor of London, who is, you know, the most prominent Muslim mayor arguably in the world to this day. So he's playing on fear and division which is wrong. I also think it's ineffective. I spoke to some counter terrorism people and they say, again, this travel ban just alienates Muslims, it will help ISIS recruiting.

CABRERA: So you think that is actually dangerous.

ROHDE: I do. I think it's adding, it's sort of inflames our enemies and also what's odd about this is, is the sort of constant attack and push back on sort of political correctness and his veiled criticisms of Europe. Again he's sort of fighting Europe and our European allies and seems much friendlier, you know, and much more comfortable with the sort of more autocratic rulers.

[20:30:06] It's unusual and I guess broadly he's sort of immediately using this attack for political purposes. And that was very unusual.

CABRERA: There was a huge backlash especially coming from Britain about this tweet that he sent out, in particular the one attacking Sadiq Khan. And let me just read you some of the things that people are saying, tweeting in response.

Brendon Cox, whose wife Jo Cox is a British lawmaker who was murdered by a far-right extremist, wrote this. "You represent the worst of your country. Sadiq Khan represents some of the best of ours."

The conservative politician Penny Mordaunt tweeted the transcript of Khan's interview and said, "I'm standing with resilient London and him." Another politician went on to say that President Trump's state visit should be canceled. So there is this fierce response it seems like against President Trump.

What message are people and world leaders around the world getting from these tweets?

ROHDE: Well, in his defense he's trying to be combative, he's trying to elevate the importance of this issue and he deserves credit. I think clearly there needs to be some new approaches to dealing with extremism. These three attacks in three months are very difficult for Britain. But being divisive, being political, sort of point scoring, it doesn't help. You know, terrorism is designed to divide us, divide us along religious lines but also divide us along political lines. So there's no great vision he's offering here. He's sort of scoring points and I don't think it's constructive.

CABRERA: You talk about what politics of what he tweeted out. Remember voters a lot of people who support him like that he's not PC.

ROHDE: Yes. But that's, again, the bottom line in what he's saying is that the problem is Muslims. And the problem is he's lying. He's not saying it overtly but that's the signal. He said that repeatedly throughout the campaign. He's returning to that again. Some of his best advisers have asked him not to do, General McMaster, the National Security adviser. And it makes -- score points with his base but I -- personally I don't think it's not an effective counter terrorism policy.

CABRERA: Do you think it could have an impact on the travel ban and that legislation now before the Supreme Court -- this executive order?

ROHDE: It might. I mean, again, his base might -- you know, terrorism sparks fear and people might support the ban more. It's not a solution. It's an easy answer, we're just going to block everyone from coming in here, but, you know, at this point it looks like these were British -- you know, residents of Britain maybe British citizens. So stopping outsiders doesn't, you know, stop terrorism. There is no silver bullet for ending terrorism. And these are just sort of, you know, again, quick sort of political hits.

CABRERA: The president has not appointed a UK ambassador. In fact the person who is currently in that position responded in a much different way than the president, almost contradicting his tweet about Sadiq Khan. And there are also a lot of positions unfilled right now within several department. Does that make a difference?

ROHDE: It does. And an effective effort to counter terrorism involves military force and the president is being more aggressive on it than President Obama. They are shrinking ISIS' territory and that's a success. But you have to have other efforts. You have to interact with Muslim communities. Prime Minister May talked about that. She talked about more blunt awkward but also sort of respectful conversations about what's going on.

And you need these different things. You need some military force, you need diplomacy and you need to interact more, you know, with Muslim communities in the West. So it's not just, you know, tweeting, you know, things that sound tough.

CABRERA: David Rohde, thank you.

ROHDE: Thank you.

CABRERA: Nice to see you.

All right. When it comes to the Russia investigation, one U.S. senator says there's a lot of smoke but no smoking gun. But could that all change when former FBI director James Comey testify next week? But did you know there are more guns than people in the U.S. So how can we stay safe in a country full of guns. W. Kamau Bell tries to find out on the next "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA" tonight at 10:00 Eastern and Pacific.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

W. KAMAU BELL, HOST, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA": What are your thoughts on guns in this country?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just grab your head and just scream and say, what can we do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we convince young people that firearms are not the solution.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So many of my friends were killed because of guns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have a gun problem. We've got a heart problem. There's no sanctity of life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe everybody should be able to own a gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every round has two things attached to it -- a jail sentence and a lawyer.

BELL: Is it irresponsible to not do all you can to protect your family?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:38:51] CABRERA: Here at home President Trump is facing a potentially pivotal week. On Thursday James Comey is set to testify publicly. It will be the first time we hear from Comey since the president suddenly fired him. And we're told he's eager to talk. One thing we expect to hear about are the private discussions he had with President Trump. You'll recall during those discussions the president reportedly asked Comey for loyalty. He also is reportedly to have said that Comey should drop the investigation into Michael Flynn.

Let's talk about what we can expect and the impact it may have. Joining us via Skype CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, Juliette Kayyem.

Juliette, thanks for coming back with us. Now Comey reportedly has these memos, notes he made after every meeting with the president detailing what happened. Do you think he's going to bring those with him?

KAYYEM: He has a story to tell. And people have to remember that Comey became a household name many years ago during the Bush administration for something very similar in which he essentially took on his bosses and elders. This was related to some provisions of the Patriot Act during the war on terror and had very compelling testimony.

[20:40:08] It was sort of breathtaking and breathless. Comey knows how to tell a story. He's -- I wouldn't call him a showboat but he certainly knows how to tell a narrative. He will tell a very -- I think a very good one and one that will be very difficult for the White House to I think skew, let's put it that way.

CABRERA: Democrats are likely to press Comey about the request President Trump made and whether he saw this as obstruction of justice. What happens if Comey says yes?

KAYYEM: Well, Comey says yes. Then that becomes part of remember the special prosecutor's case. He has -- Mueller has this huge mandate. He is looking at financial interest. He is looking at people tied to the campaign. He's looking at people in the White House now and he will look at the overall obstruction of justice charges. So whatever Comey says of course Comey has to be held to because he's going to say it under oath in front of a Senate hearing. But nonetheless it would be something that Mueller would look into.

But, look, I think one thing we have to remember is however Comey perceived what President Trump was saying to him, you know, as a legal matter we all know as a political matter and I think as a sort of -- you know, sort of -- as a matter of just sort of constitutional normal President Trump should have never said that to Comey. Right? We know that presidents, whether joking, whether just sort of, you know, trying to figure out where things are never should be in a position where they can be accused of sort of evading justice and evading an objective investigation. So to me it's less interesting how Comey felt or perceived it than what the facts are about what President Trump said to him.

CABRERA: You talked about Robert Mueller, the special counsel in the Russia investigation. We are learning he and Comey have talked about the parameters of Comey's testimony before Congress. What does that tell you, you know, the fact that he's testifying after speaking with Mueller? What does that tell you?

KAYYEM: You know, Mueller wants to do is insure that he does not disrupt or undermine any particular piece of the case that Mueller thinks that he might be able to bring. And to the extent that there might be obstruction of justice charges, well, basically he wants to insure is that whatever Comey is going to disclose this Thursday is something that would be able to be utilized by a prosecutor later on. In other words there can't be a story in front of the Senate and that a story later on if there's in fact an obstruction of justice charge.

So that is simply what was going on between Mueller and Comey. There's nothing nefarious about it. It was just to insure that you're protecting the case. And I have confidence that Mueller thought that Comey could go forward, make a presentation to the Senate about these obstruction of justice concerns, charges that statements made to Trump and Mueller could still protect whatever case he eventually is able to bring. Now remember obstruction of justice would not just apply to President

Trump. That's only one piece. Mueller would be able to look at obstruction of justice charges against any other White House person, including the White House counsel, including Jared Kushner, or any others who might have been involved in trying to undermine this overall investigation. So, you know, put on your seatbelt. I have to be honest with you. I think having seen Comey testify before I don't think he's going to disappoint.

CABRERA: All right, Juliette Kayyem, we are anxiously anticipating that. Thank you.

The fallout from the president's announcement that he was pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord continues this weekend. Former secretary of state John Kerry is blasting that decision. He says, "America unilaterally had seeded its global leadership on the climate change issue," adding that even Republican president George H.W. Bush pushed in the direction of the Paris accord.

Now Kerry also mocked claims by the president that he would look to a new negotiate a new agreement more favorable to the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: When Donald Trump say to the world, well, we're going to negotiate a better deal, I mean, you know, he's going to go out and find a better deal? That's like -- I mean, that's like O.J. Simpson saying he's going to go out and find the real killer. Everyone knows he isn't going to do that because he doesn't believe in it. Because if he did believe in it, you wouldn't pull out of Paris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And as we continue to follow what's happening in London at this hour we now know the city is still on alert. The raids continue. People are under arrest and the city is heartbroken. People fleeing for their lives. We're getting new images from the scene as police were looking for the assailants.

Up next, hear witnesses to the attack describe the horror in their own words.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:49:13] CABRERA: The attack in London sent the city and that country into chaos. Here's a look at how it unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was on London Bridge. What I saw was a van coming across London Bridge at high speeds swerving on and off the pavement. It knocked over several people, came within about 20 yards of where I was. It knocked somebody nearly 20 feet in the air. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw a car and a few bodies being flipped into

the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my line of sight there were five or six bodies of people who are not moving. About five or 10 minutes later I heard quite a lot of gunfire. They sounded like gunfire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably about six or seven times as we heard gunshots going off down the street. Each time, about three or four, maybe more gunshots at a time.

[20:50:06] The first one we heard about 10 to 15 gunshots. I literally turned around and there was three men standing there. One of which with machete. And this one girl saying to everyone, they're stabbing people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of panic and --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of commotion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. A lot. Just a lot of people, actually they were taking out from their homes and some of them were barefooted.

NEIL PATE, WITNESS: Suddenly I hear kind of police shouting. So I think I keep my head down and then I turn around and there's a heavy police presence pushing two maybe three guys up against the wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, people were just literally running away as fast as they possibly could and taking direction from the police to the best of their abilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, I sat down with Anthony Bourdain ahead of his new episode in Antarctica and asked him about some of his memorable moments from that trip. That's right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:55:17] CABRERA: Anthony Bourdain has been just about everywhere in search for exotic cuisine. Everywhere that is. But Antarctica. Until now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, HOST, CNN'S "PARTS UNKNOWN": It's the only continent I haven't visited. It's the last continent on earth. Where the tightly knit community of seekers and equipment operators, cooks and scientists, gather to explore the art of pure science. Looking for something called facts. Remember them? The last unspoiled place on earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Pretty amazing scenery. Huh? I sat down with Bourdain to hear more about this adventure of a lifetime, as he called it, and to find out what drew him to such an isolated place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOURDAIN: First, I wanted to see the last, you know, unspoiled continent on earth. Through the international treaty there, there's not a single cigarette butt on that entire continent. All the people who work down there are rigorous in their impact on the environment. But there is -- there are people and there is a subculture of the major we spent much of our time either working out of or staying at McMurdo Station, which is a community of between 600 and 1,000 people all working to support pure science.

So you have people from all walks of life choosing to live down there six months out of the year in either total darkness or constant sun working 12-hour shifts in a variety of fairly, you know, very physical jobs understanding that they are there to support, you know, some pretty esoteric research into, you know, the microbiology of the past 10 centuries or black holes, sun flares, penguin behaviors, pure science is being practiced down there at a time when pure science is less popular than ever.

CABRERA: Yes.

BOURDAIN: and it is a true, noble pursuit. And when you see that many people working in Congress together in pursuit of that science, and knowledge.

CABRERA: And in pursuit of --

BOURDAIN: It is beautiful and I think people would be really surprised to see this community.

CABRERA: You took a few field trips while you were there. What was the most amazing thing you experienced?

BOURDAIN: Well, the South Pole was, like, pretty amazing, like living in outer space in a lot of ways. Maybe colder.

(LAUGHTER)

BOURDAIN: But it was an area called the dry valleys which is about 1 percent of the total land mass. Only 1 percent of the total land mass in Antarctica. And it's completely devoid of snow or ice. It looks like the surface of Mars. And in fact they use it to test things like the Mars Rover. Very beautiful, very eerie, and we went camping there at the foot of a glacier and even had a beach party.

CABRERA: Wow. And how was it filming in such extreme conditions?

BOURDAIN: It's tough. You're getting in and out of the protective gear, having to conform to rigorous rules as far as your behavior. You know -- one example would be, you know, you don't urinate on the ground anywhere in Antarctica. It's bottled, transferred to a 55- gallon, eventually shipped back to the states along with every other, you know, waste left by anybody. So it's extraordinary. That's both inspiring and makes things difficult.

CABRERA: Yes, no kidding. Not so convenient when it comes to the everyday things we take for granted.

BOURDAIN: A lot of rules, you know, because when things go wrong in Antarctica, they go really, really, really wrong.

CABRERA: How interesting. What a great, great opportunity to experience that.

BOURDAIN: It is -- one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: He's going to take you there. You're going to be able to experience it as well tonight.

Thank you for being with us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. We hope you had a great weekend. And have a great week ahead. "ANTHONY BOURDAIN, PARTS UNKNOWN" starts right NOW.