Trump Defends Saudis; Trump Allies Deny Facts
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We have some breaking news. At least five people confirmed dead after a volcano erupted three times on a popular tourist island off of New Zealand's east coast. You can see it happening right there and some of the aftermath. A search and rescue crew -- search and rescue crews, I should say, have rescued 23 people so far, but roughly 50 people were believed to be on or near the island at the time of the eruption. Police say the island is covered with ash and smoke making it difficult and dangerous for emergency crews to reach potential survivors.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. All right, the much anticipated inspector general report on the Russia investigation is scheduled to be released today. Laura Jarrett is back with us to break down what it's expected to say and it isn't what the president really was hoping for we understand.</s>LAURA JARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, it is not. With a little over a year and a half in the making, we expect this report to debunk some of the most inflammatory claims made by President Trump and his allies about the FBI. But it won't be a complete, clean bill of health for the agency either. First, the report should confirm that the FBI did not plant spies in the Trump campaign. We've heard that so much from the president and Bill Barr. But it did use informants who met with campaign officials. Horowitz, the inspector general's office, is also going to find sufficient justification to open the Russia investigation in the first place. And top officials, he's going to find, were not motivated by political bias despite all of those text messages we've heard so much about. Having said all of that, Horowitz will sharply criticize the FBI's leadership for their handling of the investigation in some critical ways as he's discovered errors and omissions when FBI officials applied for that wiretap to monitor the former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor, Carter Page, including a damning, new revelation that an FBI lawyer actually doctored an email that was presented to the FISA court. So a mixed bag of conclusions, no doubt. But Attorney General Bill Barr has told others that this report won't be the last word on the matter as the inspector general was constricted from gaining access to certain CIA files and so he's tapped -- Bill Barr, I should say, has tapped a U.S. attorney to continue a criminal investigation into all of this. Alisyn. John.</s>CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. Fascinating for this long -- these long, awaited results. And we'll see exactly what happens this afternoon. Laura, thank you very much. Also breaking overnight, Saudi state media reports that the crown prince and President Trump have spoken about the deadly shooting at a Florida naval base by a Saudi national. The FBI is investigating this as terrorism, but President Trump is defending the Saudis. CNN's Brynn Gingras is live in Pensacola with the latest. What's happening, Brynn?</s>BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, the president has had at least two phone calls with the Saudi kingdom, one's from the king and one's from the crown prince. And he's really quickly passed long their condolences when talking about this shooting. Almost immediately he did that after the shooting happened early Friday morning, even before there was investigative details that were coming out. And then again he's done it when it's been very clear that there was an apparent hatred by this gunman of America. And it's obvious that he really does not want to fracture that relationship with that country. This is a somewhat different tone that we've -- than we've been seeing from some of his Republican allies, like Congressman Matt Gaetz, who represents this district where the Naval base is, who went on morning talk shows and basically said -- and really made it clear that the Saudis cannot interfere with this investigation. Even went so far as to say that the program which trains Saudi nationals here on American soil should be halted until it is further investigated and the vetting process is, you know, cleared up and made sure it's working properly. The same was echoed really by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis yesterday in a press conference really saying the same thing. Now, as far as the investigation goes, the FBI is still searching for a motive. They won't say this is a terrorist act, essentially saying that they're trying to determine if this gunman acted as a lone wolf or a part of a bigger terrorist organization or network. And essentially they're doing that by continuing to interview those Saudi nationals who we are told are restricted to stay on base and are cooperating with the investigation. Now, this as the entire community is still trying to heal. We saw the dignified -- we saw the dignified transfer of the three airmen yesterday. And essentially this community is so sad that the -- they are not older than 23 years old. Three men killed in this horrific act. John.</s>BERMAN: An incredible tragedy, Brynn, and still so many questions about the person who carried it out. We're lucky to have you there reporting. Keep us posted.</s>GINGRAS: Yes.</s>BERMAN: A California man will be arraigned today, accused of rehearsing a mass shooting in what officials call distressing YouTube videos. San Diego Police arrested the man on gun and child endangerment charges. Authorities say the 30-year-old was taken into custody without incident last week after they executed a search warrant at his home.</s>CAMEROTA: Another prominent Republican is now spreading disinformation, trying to ease the heat on President Trump. And this Republican knows all about being on the receiving end of a conspiracy.