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London Attackers Identified; Young Contractor in Trouble; Long- Awaited Testimony; Cutting Ties with an Oil Rich Country; Back to Normal Life; War of Words; Wrapped in Fear. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 6, 2017 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] MAX FOSTER, HOST, CNN: London terrorist identified after brutal attacks in the heart of the city. A neighbor saying they warned police about one of them.

Sadiq Khan hits back at Donald Trump after the U.S. President slam the mayor's response to the attack.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, HOST, CNN: ... leaks and fleeing Mosul. Civilians rushed to leave the city before the final assault on ISIS.

I'm Rosemary Church at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.

FOSTER: And I'm Max Foster at Abingdon Green here in London. Hello and welcome to the special edition of CNN Newsroom.

British authorities are facing new questions about possible security gap as we learn more about the London attackers. Officials name two of the three men. On the left is Khuram Shazad, a British citizen born in Pakistan, on the right Rachid Redouane, who claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan.

Police say they were searching an east London addressing in connection with the attack. No one has been detained. The 12 people who are arrested during earlier raids have been released without charge.

Joining us now is CNN's Samuel Burke out Scotland Yard; Isa Soares is at 10 Downing Street. Samuel, first to you, what do we know about what the police knew about the suspects before the attack?

SAMUEL BURKE, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Max, so many times in this investigation you hear people say we had no idea, he was a nice guy. But that really doesn't seem to be the case about Khuram Shazad. But police are saying that he was known to both the police and to MI5, though they say that there was no intelligence to suggest that there was any type of planning that they knew about in this attack that happened this week.

But we're hearing from members of the community, both from within the Muslim community here in London and the non-Muslim community. One neighbor telling CNN that she had actually been suspicious of Mr. Butt and that she had flag him up to the authorities after she said she saw him teaching kids to pray in her neighborhood. But then you have other information from other members of the Muslim

community. One man Muhammad Shafiq (Ph) say that at one point he was verbally assaulted by Mr. Butt, that he called him a word in Arabic which would be the equivalent of calling somebody a traitor or a stooge for the government and that he reported him to the police. And that the police came but he said he's actually not surprised that these men was one of the people who carried out the attack.

On top of that, Max, you see footage from Channel 4 a local news station here in the U.K. which actually did a documentary which included Mr. Butt saying the documentary was the Jihadist the next door. And you see him in the Regent's Park, one of the best known park here in London unrolling a black flag which may looks similar to the ISIS flag for some people but wasn't the actual ISIS flag.

So, the question really comes now here is what were the police doing with the information that they had? Do the police here in the U.K. and the intelligence forces have the resources that they need to investigate these people, and what are they doing with the resources that they have? An important question that Theresa May is facing on the campaign trail already.

FOSTER: Any words really about the resourcing issue from a technical point of view, do they failed that they got enough resources?

BURKE: Well, we actually heard from one of the police commissioner. Commissioner Dick saying that she didn't feel that the police had enough resources that needed to be an increase. Under Home Secretary Theresa May when she was home secretary there are actually 20,000 officers cut.

Now a lot of this is being politicized here in the U.K. because we're about to have an election. But again, hearing from the commissioner saying that they do need more resources to actually fair and clear, and somebody who seems to be fairly apolitical in their word. That's a very clear message saying that they do need more.

FOSTER: OK. Samuel at Scotland Yard, thank you. Let's go to Isa now who's looking in that political perspective. The election is on Thursday, so we haven't long to go and this is going to define it. What sort of criticism is the government coming in for?

ISA SOARES, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, I can tell you there are already from other party they are making political hay of this of this recent attack. Of course, following on from the Manchester attack, Max where 20 people died. There was an outpouring of grief, there was an outpouring of anger.

That has actually escalated somewhat following from the London attack given what we're hearing from Samuel Burke, hearing what we're getting from authorities that perhaps this man was known to police, not just normal police but also MI5.

[03:05:03] And they were investigating -- investigating him. And people had actually warned police about him. So, many people of course, especially those undecided voters who were asking themselves which way they will go ahead of the election on Thursday.

And Max, I was listening to a really interesting discussion on a London radio station where people were basically calling in saying they had changed their minds regarding the way in which they will vote following on from this attack, given the fact that Theresa May was Home Secretary -- was Home Secretary and she may cut of as many as 20,000 in police cuts.

So, people really changed, some people changing their minds as to which way they will vote. That will be front and center as the campaign has resumed in the last 24 hours.

We heard from Jeremy Corby, the leader of the opposition calling on Theresa May to resign but she had pitched herself as strong and stable and we heard from her just day after attacks in which she came out with a full throng of approach on how to target these terrorist groups saying that enough is enough.

FOSTER: Genuine questions are being asked by independent parties as well, about whether or not the security apparatus in the country is fit for purpose anymore because of this new type of threat we're facing, the intensity of the threat.

Tell us a bit more about that because that's a genuine concern away from politics.

SOARES: Yes. And this is -- this is interesting. And nothing many people will be discussing this in the next few days because, you know, the way these attacks we have seen these attacks now they are so hard to prevent and they are so hard to predict. You know, this just guys getting on vans and just mowing down people.

So, what they basically and what we're seeing is that, you know, we've got a 5,000 or so open counterterrorism investigation into these people. But we've also got something like 20,000 of them how people, former people of interest.

So there is this question over do we have enough people, is the British police is there enough people surveillance on these people, which is a question of course we were raising when we were covering the Paris attacks very similar.

But also, Max, what we heard from neighbors as CNN reporting, the people were reported reporting these people, but perhaps the calls one being made to the right department. So, is something falling for the cracks. This is something that of course many people are asking, many people are questioning and whether having more police will that change anything or is this the problem of the structure within the police force.

These are all questions they're not just Londoners but indeed that many Brits will be asking as they head to the polls, a critical election of course given what we've seen in the last two weeks. Of course, not something that Theresa May never expected of course when she called this election on March, Max.

She had, she was expecting to have a majority, had a huge lead and that gap has narrowed quite dramatically in the last week or so, Max.

FOSTER: Yes, one poll we can't take any of the polls face value, but one of them this morning putting the lead at less than, well, about 1 percent which is extraordinary considering how far ahead Theresa May is parting was...

SOARES: Yes.

FOSTER: ...at the beginning of all of this.

Joining me now is David Lea, he's a senior Europe analyst for Control Risks. Where from here, don't we, that these people were on the radar before they carry out the attacks but does -- you know, this guy could not have been more on a radar it seems. There was even a program that him being a Jihadi and there was an investigation. We don't know what happened about that investigation in the end.

But what are your thoughts about how this compared with other similar circumstances?

DAVID LEA, SENIOR EUROPE ANALYST, CONTROL RISKS: I think at times it's easy to be what's up to the event. But there are serious questions about this as the surveillance of this particular individual and obviously a lot more is going to come out of that in the next days, isn't it.

It does seem as if it's going to be something that the police and the security forces have to defend once we (Inaudible) throughout the election so far.

FOSTER: What we often hear is that it takes so much resource to monitor someone.

LEA: Yes.

FOSTER: But from what we understand it didn't get to that point and it doesn't seem to be a resourcing issue, it's just a case of they had looked into it and they decided not to continue so that's not a resource issue, is it?

LEA: It depends. It could be a resource issue given that they looked into is that enough to continue because there are other higher priorities and they didn't have the resources to get...

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: They don't have the time to spend on it.

LEA: ... to the priority there, so that's entirely possible at all.

FOSTER: What about the security apparatus in the country, one of the main newspaper here saying it's not just fit for purpose. The whole thing needs to be re-thought and that's actually a serious consideration here in Westminster as well, isn't it?

LEA: Yes, absolutely. The security apparatus has evolved constantly after the terrorist attack in fact, going roughly to seven slaughtered and 25 are yet luckily be crafted then.

FOSTER: Yes.

[03:09:59] LEA: A lot more community and intelligence can tell (Inaudible) and that's not really very successful, you know, until now.

FOSTER: Where is the problem with the relevance? Why is it not working as well now?

LEA: I think after a number of, after a matter of times certainly.

FOSTER: Yes.

LEA: Sooner or later some folks are going to get through. But the community work very well here in the regions (Ph) we've heard both of Manchester and the ones that people from mosques and friends within the community are informed.

FOSTER: And one of the concerns there is local level policing, basically police walking around the streets having relationship with local communities that's been one of the biggest areas of cops, right? So that when we talk about intelligence we're not necessarily talking about MI5 and MI6.

LEA: No.

FOSTER: We're talking about bodies on the beat.

LEA: No, not exactly that's the kind of thing. I'm going in the constant of people in those communities and then you can then make decisions for yourselves. And that the calls (ph) to local and community policing are going to be a factor in what remains the election campaign on that basis.

FOSTER: We heard for these latest suspects there were calls have been made to the anti-terror hotline which is meant to be a way that you could report problems but those messages didn't seem to get through but presumably they've got huge amount of calls coming into that line.

LEA: Again, it's going to be a priority issue that you know, is this guy (Inaudible).

FOSTER: So when it comes to trying and being partial that we got an election coming up, we got Theresa may saying one of the issues is, you know, partly talking to what you're talking about a cultural issue. Then you got the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn saying it's a resource issue there's been too many cuts in the police and security services. What are your thoughts on that if it's -- if anyone is right or wrong?

LEA: It's going to be a fascinating issue because obviously the conservatives should initially portray themselves as party of little older (Ph) and coming into this campaign would have been extra image and comfortably (Inaudible) winning debates on that, and particularly portray Labour Party weaken that area. Now Labour Party has got something, you know, with which to attack Theresa May because she has been (Inaudible).

FOSTER: Because this day left the campaigning so it's going to be the defining issue for many of them, isn't it?

LEA: Absolutely.

FOSTER: David, thank you very much indeed.

More on the terror attack here in London shortly. But I'll hand back now to Rosemary for more news from around the world. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Thanks so much, Max. We'll talk to you in just a bit. A federal contractor is under arrest accused of leaking top secret information about Russia's efforts to hack the U.S. presidential election.

Twenty-five-year-old Reality Winner, you see her here admits she intentionally leaked the classified document. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Her mother says Winner wasn't especially political and that she never praise past leakers like Edward Snowden.

CNN's chief U.S. correspondent Jim Sciutto joins me now to talk more about this. So Jim, what more are you learning about these leaks NSA memo containing information on Russian attempts to hack voting software just days before the 2016 presidential election.

JIM SCIUTTO, CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, CNN: That's right. So it's a classified NSA document prepared dated just in May of this year is some of the latest intelligence about these attempts. During the election we knew that there been some probing attacks of voter registration systems in Arizona, in Illinois, in Florida we've done some reporting on some probing attacks were on a contractor in Florida that handled some of those voting systems.

It remain then and it remains today the judgment of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia did not successfully get into vote tallying, did not affect with cyber-attacks any of the counting of the votes. But this NSA report shows that they are still looking into what those probing attacks did where they went, possibly some, you know, assessment of what the intention was, et cetera, has not changed the overall assessment that there was no messing with the vote tallies.

But they are still gathering intelligence assessment can change, that assessment has not change. But Rosemary, they're still gathering intelligence that shows that the Russians were at least looking to see how far they can go instead some of these systems.

CHURCH: So what actually motivated this young contractor to leak this information to an online media outlet, do we know what was she hoping to achieve with it?

SCIUTTO: It's not 100 percent clear yet. We've done some reporting where apparently where she had heard a podcast where some journalist including Glenn Greenwald who is tied to the intercept talked about their doubts about Russian interference in the U.S. election. There been some reports about that so we looked at some of her communications tried to time that to when that podcast aired. It looks that there's possibly a connection there that gets to a possible motivation, we don't know that. But what we do know is how she was caught. And that involved some detective work some interesting sort of old school detective work on the part of U.S. intelligence agencies.

[03:14:59] And how this happened is she apparently download this document, printed it out, took a picture of it, share that picture, apparently anonymously with the intercept. The reporter there then show that to another contact of the reporter, another contractor say, hey, is this document real.

That person went to some of their colleagues to report that this document was out there. They looked at the document saw that there had a crease in the corner on the image which was an indication that it had been printed out. It looked like there was a fold there that when you take a picture sometimes that fold shows is a crease.

So they looked at the people who had printed out this document. It was a small handful of people and then from there were able to find their way to this leaker, this 25-year-old contractor.

So, some old school police work there that led to the original leaker of the information.

CHURCH: Extraordinary. So what damage has potentially been done with this leak and what will likely happen to the young woman behind it?

SCIUTTO: Well, on the second question first, leaking of classified information carries potentially heavy legal price possibly up to 10 years in prison rarely do people serve the maximum sentences. We do know -- we don't know if she'll be convicted. We do know that she's appeared in court already.

CNN spoke to her mother today that she has a court appointed lawyer. Her mother is hoping that she will be released on bond.

But facing a difficult legal future it seems as to what damage it did, you know, it's interesting here as they called illegal but the information is already out there, right? So there's classified NSA report is out there adding to the picture of Russian interference in the election, but it shows again the vulnerabilities in the system, right?

Because remember, it was also a contractor named Edward Snowden who led to an enormously leak of information about domestic surveillance and other surveillance programs. There been a lot of effort made by U.S. intelligence used to plug leaks like that going forward but when you look at what happened here it's clearly not all those holes have been plugged.

CHURCH: Yes, certainly, that is the case. Jim Sciutto, many thanks...

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

CHURCH: ... for filling in all of the holes there and we understand a little bit more about this now. Many thanks.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, there's new evidence of Russian hacking in the U.S. election could come up Thursday when former FBI Director James Comey appears before the Senate intelligence committee.

CNN's Tom Foreman has a preview.

TOM FOREMAN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: For Congress it's the hottest question in town. Did President Trump tried to pressure FBI Director James Comey to drop the Russia probe and was it obstruction of justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE MANCHIN, (D) UNITED STATES SENATOR: We want to find out what Comey was thinking at that time if he thought it was, has risen to that level of obstruction. And if it had why hadn't something been done, why didn't act on it he was still FBI director.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: As FBI Director Comey met or spoke with President Trump at least three different times. The president just talked about some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If it's possible would you let me know am I under investigation? He said, "you are not under investigation."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: But sources say Comey in his own notes after one such meeting in February said the president also inquired about the probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. "I hope you can see your way to letting this go, to letting Flynn go." Trump allegedly said, "he's a good guy."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK WARNER, (D) UNITED STATES SENATOR: I want to know what kind of pressure appropriate, inappropriate, how many conversations he had with the president about this topic. Did some of this conversations takes place even before the president was sworn in?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: The president rejects the whole idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you at any time urged former FBI Director James Comey in any way, shape or form to close or to back down the investigation into Michael Flynn, and also as you look back...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: No, no. Next question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Complicating the matter, Trump's firing of Comey and this cryptic tweet when news of Comey's notes appeared. "James Comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press." The White House has not said of any tapes exist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, UNITED STATES WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has nothing further to add on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Comey has previously made it clear he would take seriously any political meddling in the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER UNITED STATES FBI DIRECTOR: I'm talking about a situation where we were told to stop something for a political reason. That would be a very big deal. It's not happened in my experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Still to come, the worse diplomatic crises in years hits Gulf Arab states. Why multiple nations are severing ties with Qatar. That is next. And then later, London's mayor in the spotlight after Saturday's terror attack. His choice of words for Donald Trump.

We're back in a moment.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom.

The number of nations cutting ties with Qatar is growing. Yemen and the Maldives have announced they are severing diplomatic relations with the oil rich country. They joined Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. The Gulf nations accused Qatar of supporting terrorism. Qatari citizens are being told they must leave some of these countries within the next two weeks.

And multiple airlines have halted fights to and from Doha. Qatar says the allegations are baseless.

Our Ian Lee is following this story for us from Istanbul in Turkey. So Ian, what impact is this major diplomatic rift having on the region and how far might this cutting of ties with Qatar go? IAN LEE, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, there's no doubt, Rosemary that this is a major crisis for the Gulf, as far as how much farther this could go really then about as far as they can go sort of going to war which isn't going to happen. They've completely isolated Qatar. But this does brings up a lot of concerns especially since the command air operations -- combined air operations command.

But the United States is based in Qatar and that carries out all the air operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. There's concerns about cooperation in the battle against terror with these Gulf countries.

But when you look at really the economic for Qatar they're essentially isolated which not only prevents goods and services going to and from Qatar in these countries but also for companies that are looking to invest in the future in the Gulf region that is going to turn them off to Qatar.

CHURCH: And Ian, of course, Qatar is insisting the allegations are baseless, so what happens next and what will this mean for the nation of Qatar going forward with flights being cancelled and the country essentially being frozen out of the region.

LEE: Well, let's look at some of these allegations. One allegation is that they are supporting terrorist like ISIS and Al Qaeda, this is coming from Saudi Arabia which Saudi Arabia has also been accused of supporting these terrorist organizations. There's also the Muslim Brotherhood which is a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and outlawed in Egypt that has close ties with the government in Qatar.

For them really to come back together the core of the issue is just foreign policy. Qatar is forging its own path that Saudi Arabia wants to bring into toe into lying with Saudi foreign policy, so to really bridge that divide is going to take some more. And Kuwait is currently trying to mediate that.

[03:24:58] As far as the airlines go they ceased flights to and from Qatar from these countries, not only that, but they've closed the air spaces. So, Qatar's national carrier cannot fly over Saudi Arabia which means that any flights going to Africa are going to have to deviate around that country which is just going to add to the cost of those flights.

So, there really is a lot of economic pressure we're seeing here, Rosemary, against Qatar to really bring them back into the fold and have them tow a line that Saudi Arabia and other countries in the GCC agree with.

CHURCH: So, Ian, how does Qatar prove that these allegations are baseless?

LEE: Well, that's going to be difficult because again, these are allegations. We haven't seen any proof from the Saudis saying that Qatar is supporting ISIS or Al Qaeda, although you go online and just Google ISIS, Al Qaeda, you Google these countries names and there's been a number, countless articles written about how not only Qatar but Saudi Arabia has ties to these terrorist organizations.

But for Qatar it really is going to have to show Saudi Arabians, show these countries that is taking measures to improve relations and one of them is going to be particular, one visible one is with the Muslim Brotherhood who has members in Qatar.

Qatar is probably going to have to kick them out in the country, also there's talks about bringing Al Jazeera based in Qatar kind of reigned that in a bit too. There's a lot that's been talked about Kuwait trying to mediate this but there's a long ways to go to bridge that divide, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our Ian Lee, bringing us to date on the situation from Istanbul in Turkey, where it is nearly 10.30 in the morning. Many thanks.

Well, some call it the blitz spirit, other say its resilient. London is showing the world how to keep calm and carry on in deadly times. We are live from Borough Market just ahead.

Meanwhile, the city's mayor says he's too busy for a Twitter feud with Donald Trump but he does have some thoughts on the U.S. President's upcoming state visit.

Stories of survival from western Mosul those who have escaped ISIS described the suffered they have endured at the hands of the terror group. Our exclusive report still to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Welcome back. I'm Max Foster on Abingdon Green in London.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.

[03:30:00] Let's update you on our top stories this hour.

Police have identified two of the three men behind Saturday night's terror attack in London. And one of them was already known to authorities. Khuram Butt had links to an outlawed radical Islamist group, the other man Rachid Redouane claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan.

ISIS says one of its soldiers carried out a deadly standoff in Melbourne, Australia. Police say the gunman killed a man at an apartment and took a woman hostage. She was later rescued and the attacker was killed. Three officers were also wounded.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is calling it a terrorist attack.

A U.S. contractor is facing charges for leaking top secret information about Russian hacking of last years' election. The intercept web site reports the document details a Russian military cyber-attack on a U.S. voting software supplier. There's no evidence the hack affected any votes.

MAX FOSTER, HOST, CNN: Well, Londoners has really showed the world acquire defiance really just days after terrorist rampage to the heart of the British capital. There's a determination now to get back to normal.

Fred Pleitgen has been covering it up from the very beginning. He joins us now from Borough Market. How would you describe the atmosphere today, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, I would describe the atmosphere as almost as normal. And you know, of course, Max, that's also one of the ways that the Londoners here show their defiance.

You know, I actually went to the London Bridge tube station earlier today to get to where I am right now. And there was announcement saying that the London Bridge tube station is so congested because so many people are going to work, but they are warning people not to go to there.

So you can see that people really are going about their daily lives and not allowing this to derail them. It's one of the ways that London shows its strength. Here's what we saw in the past days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Meticulously looking for even the tiniest clue. Forensic workers comb through the scene of Saturday's terror attack. But just a few yards away the city is getting back to its normal pace. Commuters rushing to work, one of London's ways of defying the third act of terrorism since April.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think over the weekend the coverage and now a number of people that thought about London as being determined on that, and I think that's absolutely what we are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The English it used to be is something we just come to Europe, talks about is just about carry on.

PLEITGEN: The terrorist plowed through London with a van on Saturday night hitting many people killing at least seven.

On Monday, the grief and sorrow still very present. Many stopping and laying flowers at the end of the crime scene, some overcome with emotion.

There is more police on the streets for extra security but otherwise the city is barely missing a bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: There was incredible carnage here on London Bridge as the van apparently swirl from side to side trying to hit as many people as possible. But only two days later the bridge is open once again with people walking across enjoying the London skyline.

Defiance in the aftermath, defiance during the attack. Romanian baker Florin Morariu who is being hailed as a hero for hitting one of the attackers in the head with a basket to save people hiding in the store he works at.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLORIN MORARIU, BAKER: I had two baskets here. I take one basket here. One is heavier (Ph) is no -- against this guy's ear. Number two basket is I hit it in the face.

PLEITGEN: You hit him in the face with the basket.

MORARIU: Yes.

PLEITGEN: Florin Morariu also recorded the moment immediately afterwards the chaos and the carnage he says he doesn't feel like a hero.

MORARIU: It's normal for what, maybe it's my father, maybe he's my brother, and these young men. Yes, if possible help, help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Keep calm and carry on they say in Britain and that's exactly what London is doing. The residence and the tourists, appreciating their city and its many attractions even more after a tough weekend.

And they certainly are appreciating their city more than ever both the Londoners and the many folks who come to visit here, Max. You know, one of the things that also shows that defiance is obviously trying to open up a lot of these areas where these attacks took place as fast as possible.

As we've noted there, London Bridge are already partially partially re-open. There are still some streets that are closed off like for instance, that you see behind me. A Borough Market itself, by the way is also still closed.

It's unclear when that's going to open up because of course there is still that meticulous forensic investigation going on there as well since the attackers as they walked through their coverage.

It's a large area that the police are still combing through some of that to see whether they can find any sort of clue, but other than that and really say there is a lot of hassle and bustle out even in this weather.

[03:35:01] A lot of commuters going to work really trying to go about their daily lives not allowing this to derail them at all, Max.

FOSTER: OK. Well, there's nothing more of normal than rain, isn't there in London. Fred, thank you very much indeed.

This all happening today on the last day of campaigning in the general election. Ahead, what you got on Thursday here in the U.K. And these are sort of the headlines that waking up to today.

So, the Times of London "London attackers linked to 7/7 bombings suspect." This is all about the amount of information that the authorities actually had on one of the attackers already before the attack. Why didn't they stop TV Jihadist? It was even featured in TV shows -- TV show about Jihadist according to the Sun.

And this is one of the bigger questions that the Guardian is asking today. "Britain faces a completely different level of terror threat according to the police." And that therefore is speeding into the political debate what the government should be doing to protect this currently release that is to protect he British public.

John Peet is political editor for The Economist. The two main leaders, potential leaders, so Jeremy Corbyn as a potential and Theresa May have very different views on dealing with this actually and they are arguing about that today.

JOHN PEET, POLITICAL EDITOR, THE ECONOMIST: They are indeed. I mean, and actually base on some vulnerability. I mean, Theresa May was Home Secretary for five years. And she quite significantly reduced police numbers in the numbers of our police and now people are saying whether that was fake.

Jeremy Corbyn on the other hand, far left background has opposed almost every piece of anti-terrorist legislation. I mean, his you see was set sporty are (Inaudible). So basically there's some vulnerability...

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: And it raise questions in about shoot to kill policy which is, actually a moment within a stat which the police were praised for because they manage to take down the attackers very quickly.

PEET: Yes, he's not change his view, I mean, he says the police did the right thing.

FOSTER: Yes.

PEET: But in the past he said he doesn't like shoot to kill policies, he thinks people should negotiate. Well, it's hard to see whom you can negotiate with when we got this terrorist ways.

FOSTER: But then they saw looking at looking at potential solutions and Jeremy Corbyn is very much around it also, isn't it, for the police and the security...

(CROSSTALK)

PEET: Yes. I mean, it's actually surprising in a way given his background and what he's now going around and saying we need more resources for MI5 the security service and for extra police. And Theresa May is defending, in fact, in May we can't afford that much, so they sort of inverted their positions. Whether it will make any difference in the actual election I'm not sure that it will, we're very close now.

FOSTER: Yes, just describe that because a lot of people outside the U.K. will figure that, you know, a lot of voters are completely freaked out by what happened here in Manchester as well and in Westminster just down the road just three months ago, and therefore that will define their election choice, but do you think it will?

PEET: I mean, I think it probably has a slight advantage to Theresa May. She is the Prime Minister; she comes from the conservative party. The conservative party is traditionally the sort of law and order party.

FOSTER: Yes.

PEET: So that might help a little bit but partly because she was in charge of the home office for so many years during this period when police numbers were quite significantly reduce.

I think it's a bit harder for her to play this a positive card but she is trying to say Jeremy Corbyn is unprepared and unfit to be prime minister at the very difficult time. We're about to start on Brexit negotiations to the European Union.

So she's playing that card as hard as she can but it has to be said her campaign has not been a very effective one.

FOSTER: Brexit was meant to be the theme that's why she called to the election in the first days, right? So is it still a theme at least or not?

PEET: I mean, the remarkable thing about it is Brexit is clearly the most difficult problem facing whoever wins this election. In a short space of time have a very complicating negotiations on the terms on which Britain gets out to see the European Union. And yet, during the election itself it seems to have played remarkably little row.

Everybody said they will do Brexit in one form or another. The liberal democrats who are the closest wanting to reverse...

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: Actually publication is supporting.

PEET: Which our publication is supportive, but they don't think they've actually introduce him very well. So, Brexit...

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: Why supporting the man?

PEET: Well, I think the idea that we are preceding sort of actually we don't -- we don't quite like the direction of Theresa May saying the Tory Party and she's a bit liberal, she's actually all interventionist in the economy.

We do think Corbyn would be a terrible prime minister. What we would like to see emerge as a result of this election is that muse sort of center, center left progressive group under liberal democrats. FOSTER: Very brief. There's talk about hung parliament now because she managed to squander her lead as many people would say. What comes out of that without the labour or liberal democrat party at all.

PEET: I think there was a hung parliament, most likely it would be liberal, liberal democrats, Scottish nationalist grouping of some kind, which frankly would not be a very saving government.

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: Which would be Theresa May out of office, right?

PEET: And it would be Theresa May out of office.

FOSTER: It's going to fascinating and this is happening on Thursday, results on Friday. We'll bring all to you here of course on CNN.

[03:40:00] We got live coverage throughout the night for you.

U.S. President meanwhile, Donald Trump has been critical of the London Mayor Sadiq Khan in the wake of Saturday's terror attack, now Khan is firing back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: Since Saturday I've been working with the police, with the services with the government and others to do with the horrific attack on Saturday, an isolated time to respond to tweet from Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you like the state visit to be called off?

KHAN: Well, one division remains the same. You know, I don't think we should run with the culprits to the President of the USA in the circumstance where his policies go against everything we stand for.

I think one of the things when you have a special relationship is not different, no difference when you got a close mate, you stand with them in times of adversity but you called then out when they're wrong. And there are many things that I wish Donald Trump is wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: That was the mayor of London. On Sunday, Mr. Trump criticized Khan for telling Londoners not to be alarmed about the increased police presence. Then on Monday President Trump tweeted pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. "You had to think fast on his no reason to be alarmed statement. Mainstream media is working hard to sell it."

CNN's Jim Acosta has more on the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHAN: We will defeat the terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: With one and still reeling from a terrorist attack, the White House is defending president from stinging tweets slamming that city's mayor asked about the presidents tweet at least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack, and mayor of London says there is no reason to be alarmed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The point is that there is a reason to the alarmed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders insisted the president did not intentionally mischaracterized Mayor Sadiq Khan's response to the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I don't think that's actually true. I think that the media wants us to spin it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But listen to the context. The mayor was urging Londoners not to be alarmed about beefed-up security in the city after the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHAN: Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days, no reason to be alarmed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Also on his response to London the president renewed his pitch for a ban on travelers coming in from six majority Muslim countries, the same ban that's tied up in courts. The Justice Department should ask for an expedited hearing of water down travel ban before the Supreme Court and seek much tougher version.

The president tweeted adding, "People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want but I'm calling it what need and what it is a travel ban." The president's use of the term travel bid directly contradicts his own age.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, UNITED STATES WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is not a Muslim ban, it's not a travel ban, it's a vetting system to keep America safe.

ACOSTA: Sean Spicer from that podium he said it not a travel ban, is it a travel ban?

SANDERS: I don't think the president cares what you call it. Everybody wants to get into the labels and the semantics of it but the bottom line is he's trying to protect the citizens of this country. The danger is extremely clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Top White House officials insist the media are too focused on the president's tweets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: There's obsession with covering everything he says on twitter and very little of what he does as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway's own husband, who was under consideration to become solicitor general, said the tweets may jeopardize the administrations push for the ban. "These tweets may make some people feel better," George Conway tweeted, "but they certainly won't help the solicitor general get five votes in the Supreme Court, which is what actually matters. Sad."

Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

FOSTER: There was some talk about the British government cancelling that state visit that was planned for Donald Trump to the U.K. but we heard this morning from the foreign secretary telling BBC radio that there is no reason to counsel that visit, Rosemary. So it will go ahead and over talk is it will happen at the end of October. And it's going to be pretty hard profile also that.

CHURCH: Yes, definitely. Max Foster, thank you so much. We will all be tuning in to your show at the top of the hour.

When we come back, for people in western Mosul escaping ISIS is just as terrifying as staying in the besieged city.

ARWA DAMON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: They stumbled towards the Iraqi troops. They are breathless; their voices are shaking from fear and shock.

CHURCH: Their stories just ahead.

[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, about 100,000 children are caught in the crossfire in western Mosul the last major stronghold for ISIS in Iraq. The U.N. says children have been killed, injured and used as human shields as government forces tried to retake the rest of the city.

The U.N. is calling on both sides to stop attacks on civilians.

Well, out of the suffering comes stories of survival from the people who have escaped Mosul and those risking their lives to save them. A warning some of the video you are about to see may be disturbing.

CNN's Arwa Damon has this exclusive report.

DAMON: They stumbled towards the Iraqi troops. They are breathless, their voices are shaking from fear and shock.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON: They use sentences that seem to hardly encompass the scope of what it is that they've actually just gone through.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON: And as ISIS squeeze into even smaller territory the civilians they are holding hostage are running out of food. It was only enough to feed the children to try to keep them from crying out. She and her husband they went hungry.

On the front lines helping the Iraqi army is Dave Banks (Ph), he's American Special Forces. And with his team of free-Burma rangers volunteer medics.

Just days earlier, ISIS massacred dozens people who were just trying to make a run for it. And Dave was called to the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw they're searching bodies and we saw a movement, here they are. Look at that wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: A man alive and a little girl who creeps out from under her dead mother's hijab where she had been hiding for two says hugging her mother's corpse.

They use the tank for cover to move out dragging those they just save past the corpses of those who perished. The little girl she had not yet spoken, not a single word. No one even knows her name.

The next morning they spotted even more movement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ran got across the road with two rubble like this and ISIS on three sides of us they can hear them talking crawled through trying to go up the street ISIS is shooting threw a line to her. She tied herself three days no sleep, no water, wounded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:50:09] DAMON: Much of western Mosul it's already apocalyptic and the fight for the last square kilometers is going to be so much worse than anything we've seen before. There is no blueprint for this kind of warfare. No one has fought an enemies like ISIS holding civilians hostage in a dense urban battlefield. We go to a clinic that's further back from the front line. There's an old man who can't speak from the shock and a little girl. Her name is Marianne (Ph), she's 10 and there was her older sister Enam (Ph). They say a mortar hit their house just as they were trying to make a run for it. One sister they know is dead, they saw her lifeless body.

The others are buried under the rubble of their home but ISIS still control of the area.

The reality of what she's just said perhaps not quite sinking in, or maybe she is just looking for any distraction from a lost that she cannot yet fully comprehend.

CHURCH: Arwa Damon joins us now from Irbil in Iraq. Arwa, the level of human suffering horrifying there, the depth of misery at the hands of ISIS hard to fathom. What will happen to these people? The children particularly and to all the other civilian still held hostage by ISIS.

DAMON: That is arguably the biggest challenge for the Iraqi security forces as they continue to try to push forward has been the biggest challenge that they have been facing when it comes to trying to rest Mosul back from the clutches of ISIS.

Just about every single plume of smoke every explosion whether it's caused by an airstrike mortars fired from either side or ISIS car bombs and other kinds of explosives. These homes all have civilian families hiding in them trying to take cover under staircases or inside basement.

The sheer level of destruction when you drive through, especially the western part of Mosul it's almost apocalyptic. If they are fortunate enough to survive while you saw the state that they are one when they actually emerged from the battlefield then of course you have the unfathomable psychological scarring that this is leaving on the children and the adults alike.

And this is something that the Iraqi government recognized; this is something that we have spoken to in the past recognize as well. There really going to have to deal with this as a multi-faceted problem trying to provide these children the support that they need to be able to as best as they can if it's even possible, put what they've endured behind them and try to at least move forward.

CHURCH: Just hard to comprehended, isn't it. And meantime, of course, the battle for the old part of the city of Mosul continues, what will the likely outcome be do you think?

DAMON: Yes, eventually ISIS will be pushed out of Mosul. The question is what is it going to cost the civilian population in the city. There are tens of thousands of people still trap inside. And as you saw from that report people can't escape until for the most part the fighting actually reaches their front door.

The roads inside the old city vehicles can't go down them. It's very densely passed then the structures themselves because of its history are not necessarily very straight, they're much more likely to crumble and collapse on top of people. It's been very, very slow going throughout, but especially in these last few stages, Rosemary, because everyone run is aware of the potential toll on the civilian population.

CHURCH: Our Arwa Damon reporting there from Irbil in Iraq. It is a powerful but still horrifying story that you bring to all of us. Many thanks though.

And we are following severe weather across portions of Europe including the possibility of isolated tornadoes. Which countries could be hit the hardest? We'll take a look at that when we come back. Stay with us.

[03:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Severe weather is expected in parts of Central Europe. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us now from the International Weather Center with all the details on this. So, where will be the worse parts of Europe would be?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: You think the season pretty widespread severe weather. But really the big threat when we were talking about the most damaging winds and threat for tornadoes, that's really going to be focused in Central Europe.

So we take a closer look at exactly what countries we're talking about. And you can kid of see that we've got a combination of two different systems. We've got one that's kind of just around the Italy area and then the other one that's up towards the U.K. And the in between area enough energy is going to be funneled into that in between area that that's really where our target zone is going to be located for severe weather.

Now outside of that we still have the potential for very strong winds and flooding potential from the rain, especially in the areas of the U.K. so it's not just focused on Central Europe.

But this is what we have the best chance for some of the large hail and then again isolated tornadoes especially in those red areas that you see there like at some of those dealing with a level two out three, but also the wind. Take a look at this. The forecast wind got now obviously further north and along the coastal region that's where we're really going to see those wind gusts speak.

We're talking 60, 70, even as much as 80 kilometers per hour but even interior zone of Europe are still going to have some pretty strong wind gust. Now typically these are the countries where we averaged some of the higher totals of tornadoes. We're talking Spain, we're talking Germany, the U.K. even around the Netherlands.

But in this particular case it's going to be around that Germany, Netherlands region where we have the threat for tornadoes in the next 48 hours. Now here's a look. In terms of overall rainfall total the highest are actually going to be in the U.K. because we're going to be what we call trailing where a lot of the storms go over the same spot over and over again. And that's going to allow for a lot of those totals to end up being

say 50 even 100 millimeters of rain for portions of the U.K.

CHURCH: Wow. All right. Thanks so much, Allison. Well, people have to deal with there. I appreciate that.

Well, a man in Canada didn't let anything stop him from doing his chores. Not even a tornado. His wife took this picture he is mowing the lawn with a funnel cloud swirling just a couple of kilometers away. His wife says he knew the tornado was there and that he was almost done with his yard work when the cloud appeared. The tornado only cause minor damage. It's good to hear. And the photo has gone viral with a lot of people making Wizard of Oz jokes. Yes, we could have guessed that.

And thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter. The news continues with our Max Foster in London.

You're watching CNN.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)