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France Rail Lines Disrupted By "Coordinated Sabotage" Ahead of Olympics; FBI Seeks Interview With Trump As Part Of Investigation; U.S. Arrests Alleged Mexican Cartel Leaders In Texas. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 26, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:08]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: On the opening day of the Paris Olympics, sabotage and travel chaos. French officials are investigating an attack on 300 rail lines that shut down travel for tens of thousands of people.

Police say key rail lines connecting Paris were targeted in the attack. Cables were set on fire and taken apart. And workers say it'll take days to repair the damage.

Let's get to Juliette Kayyem, CNN senior national security analyst and former assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. She's actually in Paris.

Juliette, what kind of impact is this having? And do we know who might be behind this?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, on the impact side, it's going to impact a couple of hundred thousand travelers, they think, over the course of the time that the trains are down.

[13:35:59]

Which will -- which is there are alternatives. Lots of shuttles are being used. I've talked to a couple of team Olympic Committees, National Olympic Committees. They're going to get that their folks on buses as -- as is the U.S. Olympic Committee.

As to who it is, you know, there's -- there's high likelihood incidents. For one, the Russians have always been worrisome during this -- during this Olympics.

But this is not the kind of attack that you we expect the Russians to do. They we're generally use a cyberattack. This is more physical in nature.

And so there's been a lot of discussion about political groups, maybe from the left wing. And the reason why there's people are saying that is, as you'll remember, Paris just went through this or France just went through this absolutely quick and crazy election in which they really did head off the far right.

But that there's still a coalition government. And a lot of these pieces are not in place.

There is always -- as you know, Boris, it's also an anti-Olympic sentiment for any city that's hosting an Olympics. And those people have been threatening and protesting over the course of the last two or three weeks.

So the officials will focus on it. In about, I don't know, four minutes, the opening ceremonies will start. I'm right above it and it's plenty crowded.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I can imagine.

Now these attacks were described as coordinated, prepared and organized. From your perspective, was this at all preventable? Was this a lapse in intelligence?

KAYYEM: Yes, it's hard to say. I mean, obviously, there's a lapse in intelligence because we -- we're not hearing that they knew of anything, although I get a lot of these intel reports. There we're discussions about concerns about this kind of vandalism.

This was pretty well-organized. The one silver lining is, whoever did it -- I'm not defending them -- clearly, did not want a mass casualty event. It was done in the middle of the night. It's done in a way in which it was clear that the trains would not be functional.

In terms of a lapse, this is a -- this is a country, like most of Europe, it's very dependent on rail. There's rail lines everywhere. And they -- a lot of them are vulnerable. They're in fields. They're in suburbs and other places.

The train stations -- I've been to a couple today -- are heavily fortified. The police presence is like nothing -- I go to a lot of mega-events. This is my fourth Olympics. It's like nothing I have ever seen before.

Part of that is because the opening ceremonies in a few minutes are on the -- on the Seine River, and therefore, quite open.

But I'm -- I'm standing above a line of about 40 cop cars with their sirens on.

SANCHEZ: So expand on that. Because, as you said, this is unlike other Olympics where the opening ceremony doesn't take place in a stadium --

KAYYEM: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- but in public area. How does that change security plans?

KAYYEM: Yes, it changed everything. I mean, from the moment Paris decided what this design would be, people in my field had been hearing about what the -- what the security planning would be around, right? A very, very -- I think it's going to be stunning if it works -- event. And that is they're going to have the boats with the athletes on the sand. They're going to have the entertainment at various like little islands -- I was down there earlier today -- sort of in the middle of the river. And then people sitting by there.

So what does that mean security-wise? It means every person who gets close to the Seine has a QR code that has to match their passport. I already went through it once.

About a week ago, they set up something called the Silt Area, in which you literally could not spend the night close to the Seine unless you had gone through a background check. And they were -- they were rejecting people.

There's snipers on every building. I can see a bunch on the -- just down the street that are looking over the river. And the goal is that it's protected enough in terms of both sides of the river. Bridges are closed. Automobile traffic is closed.

That the athletes can enjoy themselves. There's lots -- I have to admit -- there's lots of buzz about Celine Dion and Lady Gaga on the street. So hopefully, in four hours, everything would've gone smoothly.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we hope everything goes according to plan.

Juliette Kayyem, always great to have you on --

KAYYEM: Yes, yes.

SANCHEZ: -- through the Olympics.

KAYYEM: Thank you. Thank you. I'll be heading down now.

SANCHEZ: Enjoy.

Next, the FBI wants to interview former President Donald Trump about the attempt on his life and the one element of the case they still have questions about.

[13:39:31]

Plus, Democrats had very few paths to victory this time last week. It's a different story now, with Vice President Harris at the top of the ticket. We'll discuss.

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SANCHEZ: New today, the Trump campaign is pushing back hard on the idea that the former president was hit by anything other than a bullet. One adviser calling it "conspiracy B.S."

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The FBI issuing a new statement saying that it "has always considered the shooting an assassination attempt."

But that statement follows testimony from Director Christopher Wray, who told lawmakers that there is some question about whether Trump was possibly hit by shrapnel.

CNN's Evan Perez is here.

The FBI wants to speak to the former president. What more are you learning here?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they want to speak to the former president because he's a victim of a crime. And so this is the standard practice. This is part of what they do in investigations and every investigation, of course.

But the context here is what kind of has, I think, gotten a little bit out of control. There is a lot of people on Twitter and other parts of the Internet that are speculating about whether, indeed, there was a bullet or was it shrapnel?

[13:45:04]

For the purposes of this investigation, it doesn't matter, right? It doesn't matter that the -- the FBI has called this an attempted assassination from the beginning. And that's what you heard from the FBI director.

He was asked a question by a member of Congress about, you know, do we know what exactly hit him? And he answered it in a very straightforward way.

But that took off in a different direction because of the politics of the day. And so that's what now we have going.

You saw Donald Trump himself go on his social media platform saying, "There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a bullet wound to the ear and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America."

He attacked Chris Wray because he seemed to think that Wray was raising questions about this. And I don't think that's exactly what the director of the FBI was doing. But kind of that's where we are now.

SANCHEZ: Trump has criticized FBI officials --

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SANCHEZ: -- multiple times before. Do we know when they're scheduled to sit down and get a statement?

PEREZ: We don't know. But, I mean, that's part of the process. I think one of the things that -- one of the questions, obviously, is, is idolizing the bullet fragments that are being recovered there at the scene.

The other thing is, will they have access to his -- to his medical records? Someone may have examined the former president's ear and perhaps may have had some kind of answer to this. I don't know that we'll ever get an answer, to be honest.

But for the purposes of the FBI investigation, you know, they need to make sure they talked to the victims, to the witnesses, everybody there, to put together a complete picture of what happened if possible.

KEILAR: It looks like he was shot by a bullet. I think when you just kind of look at it. Some people raising questions. I don't know that they're doing it in good faith.

Nonetheless, you know, Christopher Wray certainly made people raise some questions by what he said. Is Trump, do you think, going to talk to the FBI?

PEREZ: I think -- I think it -- because he's a victim. it's up to him. And the FBI can't force him to do that.

And again, he's a private citizen, so even his medical records aren't really, you know, subject to the FBI.

But the bigger question I think, what this means for the relationship with the FBI and Donald Trump. Because we know he has already said that he plans to fire Chris Wray if he becomes president again.

Chris Wray, you know, his job would definitely be on the line. This doesn't help that relationship, obviously.

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, great to get the reporting. Thanks so much for being with us.

KEILAR: And next, to an elaborate sting operation. Hear how the alleged leader of one of the world's most powerful and violent drug cartels was duped into flying directly into the FBIs hands.

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[13:52:26]

KEILAR: Brand-new details about how U.S. officials pulled off a potentially huge victory against the cartels. Two men accused of flooding the U.S. with tens of thousands of pounds of Fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs are now in custody.

They're allegedly leaders of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa Cartel. And authorities say they finally captured the pair after one, essentially, set a trap for the other.

Josh Campbell has the latest for us.

Josh, this was a so-called lower operation. Explain what happened and also the complexity of a sting like this.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, just an incredible capture here by Homeland Security investigations, the FBI and federal prosecutors across the country. Now, the FBI was involved in many of these lure operations and

everything has to go right. That starts with good intelligence. Essentially, you're getting someone who is untouchable where they are to one other place where they can then be taken into custody.

The hope is that they won't become suspicious. They won't abort their travel plans.

Here, it turns out, according to CNN's Evan Perez, that it was Guzman Lopez who was actually helping U.S. investigators to get Zambada onto an airplane under false pretenses.

That aircraft then landing in the U.S. where both men we're taken into custody.

Now, a short time ago, Zambada was presented in federal court in west Texas, where he pleaded not guilty. The detention status of Guzman Lopez still somewhat unclear right now. But I am told that an FBI aircraft that's frequently used for extraditions, left El Paso last night and landed near Chicago early this morning.

Guzman Lopez faces an indictment in Illinois. So if he was, indeed, on that aircraft, Brianna, expect that we will be seeing him in federal court soon.

KEILAR: And Guzman himself is under indictment. You know, why would he possibly help with his own capture?

CAMPBELL: Yes. This is the big question. It's somewhat unclear, but you can imagine a world where perhaps there was a deal made with the U.S. government, perhaps for some type of leniency.

I mean, we have seen other cartel members who've been captured in the past. Perhaps he thought it was just a matter of time before he eventually was perhaps picked up by Mexican officials.

He is somewhat young so you can imagine that maybe that was a calculus, maybe to get some type of leniency.

But what's so interesting is here is how this actually affects the cartels. I was speaking with our colleague, Polo Sandoval, earlier and Polo has this deep understanding of the operations, the histories of these cartels.

You know, he pointed out that if it's true that one of them was flipping on the other here, you can imagine the potential ripple effects. And just this shows the modus operandi of these cartels who are essentially every man for themselves.

[13:55:01]

So as we watch what happens to these two men in court, it'll also be interesting to watch how this impacts the cartel at large.

KEILAR: Yes, they're going to worry this could happen again within the cartels. Josh, thank you so much.

CAMPBELL: Yes.

KEILAR: We do appreciate it.

Coming up, a woman shot and killed inside her own home after she called 911. The former officer who pulled the trigger is now charged with murder. And today, we're hearing of more red flags in his past.

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