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Colorado Attack Suspect to Make First Court Appearance Today, Faces Multiple Charge After Flamethrower Attack Injures Eight at Event for Israeli Hostages; Trump Warns of U.S. Economic Ruin if Courts Block His Tariffs. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 02, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:01:02]

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": The man accused of setting people on fire at a Jewish community event in Boulder, Colorado has been charged with a hate crime. Investigators believe he planned the attack for a year, and used a makeshift flame thrower and Molotov cocktails. He's expected in court in the next hour. Plus, President Trump now warning of economic ruin if courts rule against his tariff policies, as his commerce secretary says the tariffs aren't going away.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And lights camera, A.I.? Hollywood already leaning into artificial intelligence as the technology is set to change how we live our lives. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

HILL: Happening now, chilling new details on what the White House is now calling an act of targeted terrorism. It happened at a Jewish event in Colorado on Sunday. In the next hour, the suspect is due on court -- in court facing multiple felony charges, including a federal hate crime charge. This after officials say he used a flame thrower to set people on fire. The suspect, who officials say was in the country illegally, was heard yelling free Palestine and also yelling anti- Semitic remarks.

Sources say he was found with a garden sprayer full of gasoline and more than a dozen Molotov cocktails. I also want to note that last hour, our guest suggested the suspect who was in police custody had a record. I want to let you know CNN has not confirmed that at this time. At least eight people were hurt, some of them badly burned. We know at least one of them we know is also a Holocaust survivor. CNN's John Miller leads us off again this hour. So John, we are getting some more details in about some of the alleged planning in this attack. What have you learned?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, Erica, what we've learned is, and you referred to this, this is something that we are told by authorities that the suspect has been planning for over a year. And that could explain a little bit about why it looked like he was so prepared the day he did this attack, which is having shown up with a garden sprayer, which he converted into a makeshift flame thrower. According to law enforcement officials the sheer number of, incendiary devices, these Molotov cocktails, more than a dozen recovered at or near the scene, beyond the two that he threw, before people rendered aid and called the police, and he was taken into custody.

And this is a picture we believe of the garden sprayer. It's a kind of backpack like device that you wear with straps and it has a sprayer that's connected to a hose. And having spoken to authorities out there, the question is did he spray the gasoline on people and then throw the Molotov cocktails knowing he had saturated them, the area, their clothes, or as some of the 911 callers that we played on our air earlier stated, was it actually throwing flames, which would've meant he would've had to held -- had to hold a lighter in front of that garden sprayer as he poured the gasoline out.

Witnesses and video have him at more than one gas station, where he stopped making that drive between Colorado Springs and Boulder. It's about a hundred miles or a couple of hours drive, where he was stocking up on the gasoline to fill these carafes and that device.

HILL: John, really appreciate the additional details. Thank you. Boris?

SANCHEZ: We're joined now live by Ed Victor. He was there walking in this event when the attack unfolded. Ed, thank you for being with us. First, take us through what you experienced. When did you first realize that something was wrong?

ED VICTOR, WITNESSED BOULDER ATTACK: Yes. And if I may just back up just slightly like, this walk has been going on since October 7. It's a peaceful, quiet walk.

[14:05:00]

I've been doing it since September 2024. And by being quiet and holding the signs of let them go now, and holding up signs of who the hostages are, we're raising awareness of the people still being held hostage in Gaza. So what we did, we were walking from the west side of Pearl Street to the east, and then we come back, and we always meet right in front of the courthouse.

And I came through this area, we were setting up, and I'm so used to, if we get heckled, we're just focused on being walking quietly and getting set up. So, I was just talking to someone looking west towards the mountains, and suddenly what happened was I like, felt like heat, huge amount of flame. And I just looked and there was someone on fire. And first thing going through my mind is we got to get this person like out, get the fire out. It was very nerve wracking. We -- there were two or three of us. We grabbed some flags, the banners we had, just trying to put the fire out, and it felt like it took a minute, two minutes, whatever time it was. It just felt too long.

Then after that was done, there was someone attending aid for that person, the woman, and then I was with her husband, who was also burned, very distraught, and just doing my best to comfort him. And that was what was happening for me. SANCHEZ: And you'd mentioned that at times during these walks before, you'd been heckled. I do wonder if you'd ever been previously concerned for your safety? If you'd ever imagine that something like this could have happened?

VICTOR: Yeah. Thanks for asking. I always feel incredibly safe in Boulder. I never, ever, ever would've thought this would've happened. I really can't. And I'm still shocked that it did.

SANCHEZ: Were you at all familiar with the folks that were hurt? Did you recognize any of them from previous walks?

VICTOR: Yes. The two people who were most, I feel like some of the most severely hurt were new. There was someone who was there for their second time. She was also hurt. I recognized her. The other people who were hurt, I knew them fairly well. And yeah, such a tragedy. Wonderful, wonderful people.

SANCHEZ: Give me an idea of, of how many people are out there and what it's like in the community to try to put this message out there about the hostages as you're watching multiple events of violent anti- Semitism occur in community after community across the country.

VICTOR: Yeah. I'd say we gather as a community to do this every week, and we feel like this is our job, is to raise awareness in the quiet way that we do it. And when we're quiet, people notice us. I remember walking by a local restaurant quietly and everyone just heads turned to see who we were and what was going on. And it was that quietness, peacefulness is what people notice. And we do it every week.

SANCHEZ: I wonder what your message is to officials across the country, because just in the last month or so, we've seen an attack on a Jewish governor, two people killed here in the nation's capital, Israeli embassy workers, and now this attack in Boulder. What needs to be done to better protect Jewish people?

VICTOR: I'll -- by default to myself as a community member, I'll say like, I felt like my job was a ways to raise awareness. When the fire happened, my job was to take care of the people that were hurt. And there are other people, I'll say they're better experts to communicate what else can be done. And I am happy that the community, both the Jewish community and my non-Jewish community, I'll say city, state, local, federal people are coming out to speak about the -- speak about what's going on. So I'll let them talk directly to you.

SANCHEZ: Sure. And Ed, are you planning on holding another walk this weekend?

VICTOR: I'm glad you asked. I hope so. Like, I feel like I'll be out here next week and the week following, nothing -- this would not stop me. I'm not in charge of the walks. And we'll see what other people decide what they want to do. But I will be here.

SANCHEZ: Ed Victor, we're so sorry that you endured what you did and we're thinking of those who were hurt. We appreciate you sharing your perspective.

VICTOR: Absolutely. Thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Erica?

HILL: Former FBI Director -- Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe joins us now. So, and in terms of where we stand in this moment, we now know the suspect has been charged with a federal hate crime. And also, according to the affidavit, he told investigators he wanted to, and I'm quoting here, "Wanted to kill all Zionist people." And the affidavit also noting that he'd been planning the attack for a year.

[14:10:00]

What does this tell you in terms of what we're learning now about where the investigation might stand? Even just, maybe 24 hours not even into this.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Yeah. So Erica, at this point, I mean, the investigators have a lot of evidence to use in this prosecution. Obviously, the evidence they were able to collect at the scene, so witness testimony, the videotapes of him saying these anti-Semitic things, that -- all of that will be very powerful evidence of his intent and specifically, to indicate exactly who he was targeting. And that is a key piece of the statute -- the federal statute, the hate crime statute requires that you commit this act, whether it's use of an explosive device or an attempt to cause bodily injury for the purpose targeting someone, in this case, a member of a specific religious group. So that's very powerful evidence.

As to his general criminal intent, you have this incredible planning cycle that goes back, they've told us over a year, and that's going to include things like buying the backpack-mounted plant sprayer, buying the wine carafes that he used for the Molotov cocktails, driving to the location that day, stopping and filling all these things with gasoline along the way. So, each step in that process, very powerful evidence of intent. And of course, we all know exactly what happens, that forensic evidence from the scene is important as well.

HILL: Also, so you talked about the criteria for hate crime, right, when we look at this, it's also -- it was remarkable to me that very quickly senior FBI officials labeled this an act of terrorism. Local law enforcement though has not. So in that case, what are the criteria for an act of terrorism? And do you believe that based on what we know right now, this is in fact terrorism, it meets that definition?

MCCABE: Yeah. So it's always an interesting discussion that we have around this after an attempted attack. So, by the law, under the law, terrorism is defined -- domestic terrorism is defined as a essentially a violent felony committed here in the United States with one of three potential specific intents. One of those is to influence the conduct of government. Another one is to intimidate or coerce a civilian population. You could easily fit these acts into that statutory definition of terrorism. The problem is that definition does not criminalize the act of domestic terrorism. It simply identifies it as such. So then, you have to look to other statutes to actually add the criminal penalty. In the case of international terrorism, if you add -- if you provide support to a designated international terrorist organization, that in itself is a federal crime. Domestically, it's a little tougher. You have to have things like use of a weapon of mass destruction, or in this case, hate crimes would -- is, obviously, the crime they're looking to now to provide that criminal accountability.

HILL: This walk has been held, as we just heard from our last guest, Ed Victor, this walk has been held basically since October 7th. It happens every week. It is known that it's happening in the community. When we look at the rise in threats, according to the Anti-Defamation League, threats to Jews in the U.S. have now tripled since the October 7th attacks. It was only -- it wasn't even two weeks ago actually, that those two Israeli embassy staffers were killed here in D.C. Is there something that you see that law enforcement can do differently to better protect people, especially when we're talking about such widespread threats and these increased focus on so-called soft targets?

MCCABE: Yeah. So there is no magic bullet or specific technique that law enforcement can adopt to ensure, perfect security for this highly targeted community. No, there is no other community that suffers this level of terrorist targeting in this country. However, there's a lot of things that law enforcement can do. If you look to those cities that are very successful in protecting their Jewish institutions, synagogues, community centers, they are acutely aware of these incidents happening around the country. And when they see these things happen, they step up patrols around those sensitive sites.

In addition, the Jewish communities have to really become actively invested in their own security. They have to work with national organizations like the Secured Communities Network, who will come out and provide security assessments to physical institutions and things like that. They can all -- they also have to think very clearly about publicly known, publicized events like this walk that recur every week in the same place. Those are opportunities for people who would wish harm upon the community to target, to plan, to take their time knowing that they're going to get their opportunity to attack and victimize people.

[14:15:00]

So, really have to think about those outdoor, soft target events as being highly vulnerable and take whatever steps they can to ensure their people are safe.

HILL: Quite a state of affairs, right? To think that we are in this moment, that you have to be worried about holding a walk in support of dozens of people being held hostage. Andrew McCabe, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

MCCABE: Thank you. HILL: Still ahead here, this stark warning from President Trump. Why he says the country will face economic ruin if the courts limit his authority to impose tariffs. Plus, a former assistant to Sean "Diddy" Combs testifying about the violence and abuse she says she experienced while employed by the music mogul. We have the latest on this sex trafficking trial. And later, officials in Gaza say dozens of Palestinians were shot dead near an aid distribution site in the southern part of the enclave. That and much more coming your way, next.

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[14:20:35]

SANCHEZ: President Trump has a new warning for courts in the legal battle over his trade war. The president posting on Truth Social that, "If the courts somehow rule against us on tariffs, this would mean the economic ruination of the United States of America." White House officials are coming out in defense of the president's economic policies. You have Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying the tariffs are not going away, and that the president has so many other authorities that he will find another way to enforce his trade agenda if needed.

You also have White House Economic Advisor, Kevin Hassett, saying that he expects President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to speak at some point this week. Let's discuss with Larry Summers. He served as Treasury Secretary for President Clinton and Director -- was Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama. Larry, thanks so much for being with us. What are you hoping comes out of this upcoming conversation between Trump and Xi?

LARRY SUMMERS, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY AND FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: I hope there'll be some kind of de- escalation of what is a pretty silly war that is hurting both countries. Why should we be driving up the price of toys for kids at Christmas? Why should we be raising the price of cell phones potentially by a thousand dollars or more with this kind of broad- based indiscriminate approach? So, we got all kinds of legitimate security issues that the president needs to work out with Xi. We've got all kinds of very valid concerns about resilience of our economy. But, I just don't think that having this be as heavily escalated as it is right now is in international interest.

SANCHEZ: So, the president is speaking about China having violated part of this temporary truce in the trade war, even though some of these tariffs are still relatively high. Part of the dispute on this temporary deal is rooted in access to rare earth minerals. We keep hearing about those. Why are they so important to the administration and could that dispute temporarily tank the truce altogether?

SUMMERS: I just don't know for sure what -- where that is going to go. It's possible that on rare earths, I think the administration has a concern that China could cut us off and that that could limit our ability to produce batteries and other important technologies, and that's a legitimate concern. And the right thing to do is to be building up our domestic industry, not being as provocative as we possibly could to China, which in many ways is asking for the very problem that we're trying to avoid.

SANCHEZ: How about President Trump doubling his tariff on steel imports to 50 percent? I wonder how long you think that would need to stay in place to have the kind of long-term shift on domestic steel manufacturing that he's looking for?

SUMMERS: Look, I think that's a really quintessentially damaging policy. One in fifth -- there are 50 times more workers, 60 times, something like that, more workers in industries that use steel like cars than there are in the steel industry. And so, the net effect of this is going to be to destroy manufacturing jobs. The net effect of this is going to be to push up consumer prices to make, for example, our automobile industry less competitive than it would otherwise be.

And do I think that because this president who pushes some tariff up or some tariff down three times a week has temporarily pushed the steel tariff up, that somebody's going to reorganize their plan and build a 40-year factory in the United States? No, I think that's extremely unlikely. So, this is ready, fire, aim kind of a policy.

[14:25:00]

It is -- doesn't follow from any kind of coherent economic logic. You can make a case, I don't support it, for more protection organized in a systematic way to retaliate for particular foreign abuses. I'm not enthusiastic about that strategy, but I understand the rationale for it. This set of strategies that are driven to different places seemingly at random every other day is just a prescription for more uncertainty premiums in U.S. markets, higher interest rates and higher mortgage rates, higher inflation in the form of higher prices for U.S. consumers and for reducing the competitiveness of American industry because they're going to lose the inputs that are crucial to their success.

I think the strategy is very, very dangerous and the best hope for our economy is that there will be enough damage to markets quickly that the administration is led to correct, or that the judiciary points up what's true, which is that sweeping tariff changes of this kind are the prerogative of the Congress, not of the president.

SANCHEZ: Larry Summers, thanks so much for joining us.

SUMMERS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, a former assistant for Sean "Diddy" Combs is back on the stand for a third day. She's the latest witness to accuse the music mogul of sexual and physical abuse. We have the latest from this trial.

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