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| Loretta Lynch says Orlando attack 'an act of terror and hate' – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 2.26pm BST | |
| 14:26 | |
| Senator Jeff Sessions, an ally of Donald Trump, is next on CNN. He talks about Republican opposition to a gun control measure proposed by Barack Obama and Democrats: to ban gun purchases from people on the terror or no-fly watchlist. | |
| “I’m open to the details,” Sessions says, but he and other Republicans are worried about the arbitrary nature of the watchlists. | |
| Then Bash asks about Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US, and also to ban people from areas he believes have a history of terrorism. Sessions defends a version of the proposal. | |
| “We should slow down, let’s kind of pause and analyze where the threats are coming from,” he says. “We have a toxic ideology, hopefully very small in Islam, certainly most Muslims don’t agree.” | |
| Bash asks him for specifics, and he offers a range of countries across the Middle East: “Pakistan has a number [of sympathizers], people from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen” – he does not include Saudi Arabia on the list, though most of the September 11 hijackers came from that country. | |
| “You don’t have a constitutional right to come to America,” Sessions says, saying the US should be “tightening up and pausing on the normal flow here until we’ve got a good database.” | |
| “A person with an ideology that goes beyond a normal religion, that believes you can kill gays, that believes you can kill people who change their religion, that is a dangerous thing.” | |
| “We respect your religion in his country,” he adds. | |
| Bash points out that the Orlando shooter was born a US citizen in New York and had lived his whole life there and in Florida. Sessions blames his parents – who came to the US decades ago and have no criminal record. | |
| He says that the shooter’s father “believes in the Taliban” and that the US should not have let the parents arrive from Afghanistan. | |
| Finally Sessions says that he has not discussed being a running-mate for Donald Trump, and does not even know whether the Trump campaign is vetting any candidates. | |
| Related: Orlando gunman’s father condemns atrocity but says 'punishment' for gay people is up to God | |
| 2.12pm BST | |
| 14:12 | |
| Attorney General Loretta Lynch is the first guest of CNN’s State of the Union, with host Dana Bash. | |
| Lynch’s Justice Department is going to release partial transcripts of the 911 calls made by the Orlando shooter after he began his attack at an LGBT nightclub, killing 49 people. | |
| They will talke about what he told law enforcement on the ground,” Lynch says: “his pledges of allegience to a terrorist group, his motiviations for why he was claiming at that time [his reasons] for the attack”. | |
| “It will contain the substance of his conversations,” she says. The shooter did not talk about LGBT people during those calls she adds. | |
| “This was an act of terror and an act of hate,” Lynch says. | |
| Bash notes that a gun shop owner, who noticed erratic, suspicious behavior in the gunman when he tried to buy ammunition and armor, contacted the FBI. Lynch says that yes, the owner did provide information about the man who later became the killer: “that is exactly what that gun shop owner should’ve done and we thank and commend him for that”. | |
| But, Lynch observes: “no purchase was made, there was nothing to identify who it was.” | |
| Lynch says she can’t get into the specifics about why one of the killer’s employer’s, security company G4S, did not know that their employee had been investigated by the FBI for suspected links to terror – two FBI investigations were closed without any substantiation of those suspicions. | |
| She also declines to talk about whether the killer’s wife, who reportedly knew of his intentions and tried to dissuade him, will face charges. “We’re not commenting on anyone else’s role in it right now, except to say we are talking to everyone else who knew him,” Lynch says. | |
| Bash asks whether “political correctness” could hinder an investigation, and Lynch emphatically says the Justice Department follows all leads. She adds, though, that investigators rely on good relations with Americans, Muslim or Latino or white or black or Christian. | |
| Related: G4S did not psychologically re-evaluate Omar Mateen after FBI questioning | |
| 1.40pm BST | 1.40pm BST |
| 13:40 | 13:40 |
| Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the 2016 presidential election, a race between a former reality TV star and the first female (presumptive) nominee of a major political party – both historically disliked and both out to make history, if the American people can just help them get past each other. | Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the 2016 presidential election, a race between a former reality TV star and the first female (presumptive) nominee of a major political party – both historically disliked and both out to make history, if the American people can just help them get past each other. |
| Donald Trump also has to get past some of his fellows in the Republican party, and probably past himself. The presumptive nominee for the party of Abraham Lincoln has spent the week insinuating that the president has a secret agenda linked to terrorism, saying the US should ban Muslims and unspecified others from entering the country, banning newspapers from his campaign, and congratulating himself for predicting a terror attack that was also the worst mass shooting in US history. He has continued his rallies, unperturbed by criticism. | Donald Trump also has to get past some of his fellows in the Republican party, and probably past himself. The presumptive nominee for the party of Abraham Lincoln has spent the week insinuating that the president has a secret agenda linked to terrorism, saying the US should ban Muslims and unspecified others from entering the country, banning newspapers from his campaign, and congratulating himself for predicting a terror attack that was also the worst mass shooting in US history. He has continued his rallies, unperturbed by criticism. |
| Trump faces the press this morning, three times. His top lieutenant Paul Manafort, formerly an aide to a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian president, will also evangelize for the businessman with a dubious business record. | Trump faces the press this morning, three times. His top lieutenant Paul Manafort, formerly an aide to a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian president, will also evangelize for the businessman with a dubious business record. |
| Trump’s poll numbers have plummeted and would-be allies have backed away. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the most powerful Republican in Washington, has called Trump’s remarks “racist” and told members of Congress they should vote with their conscience – even if that doesn’t mean Trump. | Trump’s poll numbers have plummeted and would-be allies have backed away. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the most powerful Republican in Washington, has called Trump’s remarks “racist” and told members of Congress they should vote with their conscience – even if that doesn’t mean Trump. |
| The speaker has not rescinded his endorsement of Trump, but Ryan’s retreat from Trump will be made clearer when NBC airs its interview with him later today. | The speaker has not rescinded his endorsement of Trump, but Ryan’s retreat from Trump will be made clearer when NBC airs its interview with him later today. |
| Related: Who supports Donald Trump? The new Republican center of gravity | Related: Who supports Donald Trump? The new Republican center of gravity |
| Also appearing this morning are two leaders of the National Rifle Association, another group put in an awkward place by the man it has endorsed. In the wake of last Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando, the worst in US history, Trump said he was open to banning gun purchases for people on the terror watchlist – a proposal welcomed by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. | Also appearing this morning are two leaders of the National Rifle Association, another group put in an awkward place by the man it has endorsed. In the wake of last Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando, the worst in US history, Trump said he was open to banning gun purchases for people on the terror watchlist – a proposal welcomed by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. |
| The NRA leaders said they would be happy to discuss the idea with Trump in a private meeting, only a few weeks after he promised to rid the US of gun-free zones (several of his clubs and properties are gun-free zones, as will be the Republican National Convention in July). | The NRA leaders said they would be happy to discuss the idea with Trump in a private meeting, only a few weeks after he promised to rid the US of gun-free zones (several of his clubs and properties are gun-free zones, as will be the Republican National Convention in July). |
| The presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, will not appear on television this Sunday. Nor will her erstwhile rival Bernie Sanders, who has refused to quit the race but shifted into a new, lower-key gear. He declared on Thursday that he would work for the next few months to stop Donald Trump at all costs. | The presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, will not appear on television this Sunday. Nor will her erstwhile rival Bernie Sanders, who has refused to quit the race but shifted into a new, lower-key gear. He declared on Thursday that he would work for the next few months to stop Donald Trump at all costs. |
| Clinton and Trump alike are chasing Sanders’ supporters, and one of the looming questions of the primary race is to what extent will Sanders bring his voters to Clinton’s cause. Obama and progressive senator Elizabeth Warren have both rallied behind the former secretary of state, boosting Democrats’ hopes that Sanders’ followers will rally around the candidate who can defeat Trump. | Clinton and Trump alike are chasing Sanders’ supporters, and one of the looming questions of the primary race is to what extent will Sanders bring his voters to Clinton’s cause. Obama and progressive senator Elizabeth Warren have both rallied behind the former secretary of state, boosting Democrats’ hopes that Sanders’ followers will rally around the candidate who can defeat Trump. |
| No matter what the senator himself decides, his supporters may not go quietly into the night. Many have vowed that “the awakening” that Sanders started is “not going to burn out in four years”. | No matter what the senator himself decides, his supporters may not go quietly into the night. Many have vowed that “the awakening” that Sanders started is “not going to burn out in four years”. |
| Also speaking this week will be Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who may provide all five shows with updates on the investigation into last Sunday’s horrific shooting, Connecticut senator Chris Murphy, who has made gun control a person crusade, and Representative Michael McCaul, a national security hawk likely to advocate for increased military intervention abroad. | Also speaking this week will be Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who may provide all five shows with updates on the investigation into last Sunday’s horrific shooting, Connecticut senator Chris Murphy, who has made gun control a person crusade, and Representative Michael McCaul, a national security hawk likely to advocate for increased military intervention abroad. |