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Investigators Search For Motive In Trump Rally Shooting; Blinken: "Inside The 10 Yard Line" On Hostage & Ceasefire; Organizers: Operations Running Normally After Outage. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 19, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly a week after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, we have new insights into the gunman's online trail. Investigators say Thomas Crooks looked up information on Michigan High School shooter Ethan Crumbley and his parents and checked out websites detailing how to build explosives.

Plus, moments before firing his AR-style weapon, he took a screenshot on his phone of the Trump rally livestream. From Crook's car, investigators recovered rudimentary explosive devices, a drone, a bulletproof vest, and additional magazines for his weapon. Let's get straight to retired Secret Service Agent Robert McDonald for more insight.

Robert, great to see you. We are learning just in the last several minutes that the Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle will appear before the House Oversight Committee on Monday. The spokesman for the Secret Service saying that just a few moments ago. Do you think that's a good idea?

ROBERT MCDONALD, RETIRED SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Good morning, Jim. Great to be with you. Yes, I think it's a great idea. I think the Secret Service needs to get its messaging out and be able to be ready to answer some very tough questions, which I don't think have been answered so far.

You know, we've got a couple of components here. We've got the failures of the protective advance that allowed to the shooting. We have a pretty good response of the shift in and around the immediate vicinity of the former president. And now we've got the aftermath and the whys and wherefores of how this happened and how we prevent it from happening again. So, I'm hoping that they're working on, getting all those answers and getting them ready before the testimony on Monday.

ACOSTA: And I know as part of the Secret Service's work that you sometimes pay visits to people who are making threatening comments about the president, might be a threat to the president, and so on. I'm curious what you think of this new information that is coming in that this shooter -- this gunman last Saturday was doing searches of the Michigan school shooter before this attack. Obviously, that's not something that the Secret Service would pick up on, but I think it's a pretty interesting clue as to what was going on. What do you think of that?

MCDONALD: No, you're absolutely right.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MCDONALD: The Secret Service takes those types of things very seriously. And when information is brought to their attention before a protective visit or just in the course of a regular day, the Secret Service physically goes out and visits those people to find out what's going on. Are they having some mental health issues? Are they off their medications? Do they have incredible hatred towards the protectee?

We take intelligence and the intelligence response very, very seriously. And again, want to build all of those things into our protective advance mechanism that goes into place for any of these visits.

ACOSTA: And in your view, Robert -- I know you weren't there, and obviously you don't want a Monday morning quarterback folks. But -- I mean, what went so wrong with bystanders alerting officers about a man perched on top of the roof and that information not getting to the Secret Service in time to stop this from happening? It just -- I mean, I've covered a lot of rallies over the years. That just seems like a complete breakdown of some sort.

MCDONALD: Without question.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MCDONALD: And you know, there are mechanisms in place, as you know, having been around us for a long time --

ACOSTA: Yes.

MCDONALD: Of message passing between agencies. There are mechanisms through the command post where real-time information can be passed from one agency to another so that things can be checked out. There are some serious questions here on why that information did not get to where it should have, or why it didn't get in a more timely fashion. Again, more questions seem to be coming out as we get more and more information from witnesses, and police officers around the scene.

Again, very troubling as to why this happened, that a 20-year-old young man was able to get out of that roof in the 150-yard shot and hit the former president. And we don't want to forget the fact that we lost the life of a -- of a person that was attending that event.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MCDONALD: And two people have gotten injured. So, a lot of -- a lot of factors here, again, that the Secret Service needs to take responsibility for the implementation of this security plan at that location. ACOSTA: And when you hear about what investigators found in the shooter's car, this rudimentary explosive device, a drone, among other things, it just sounds like they were -- they were you know, red flags that were missed.

MCDONALD: Again, as you said, not to Monday morning quarterback.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MCDONALD: But as we peel back the onion here, there do seem to be a number of blips on the screen that should have potentially allowed for some other actions or other interactions or other surveillance on this young man. This could have been a whole lot worse than it was. It was bad enough, but this could be a whole lot worse than it was. And we could be having a whole different conversation right now if other factors were allowed to play out.

[11:35:23]

ACOSTA: All right. Robert McDonald, thank you very much for your time. Really appreciate those insights. That was terrific. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

Let's talk more about what we know about the shooter with Allegheny County Councilman Dan Grzybek. He lives on the same street, if I understand that correctly, that the shooter did. Councilman, are you hearing anything from neighbors that could help us better understand what was going on, and how this tragedy could possibly happen?

DAN GRZYBEK, COUNCILMEMBER, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: Thank you very much for having me today, first of all. And you know, honestly, there really hasn't been a lot so far. Like you said, I do live on the same street as the shooter, about a half mile up.

And from talking to neighbors, he was someone that you know, people really hadn't seen a lot. But from talking to classmates, he's not someone that one expected to do something like this. Generally described as someone who is a bit of a quieter kid, pretty intelligent. Generally described as kind.

So, not someone, I think, who would have been kind of your typical suspect on the radar. If you'd like to learn a little more about that, Oliver Morrison, our local NPR affiliate, 90.5 WESA has done some really fantastic reporting on what we know so far about the shooter.

ACOSTA: And you've mentioned how you canvassed at the Crooks family home while you were running for the council seat that you now hold. What stood out to you from that interaction when you were talking to the family?

GRZYBEK: I don't think that anything stood out at the time, but I think in retrospect, I talked to the dad for probably a good five or 10 minutes. And you know, just at how mundane the conversation was, there's nothing that would have jumped out to me in retrospect that you know would have clued me into this was a family that would have been one to kind of harbor. Someone who would take such an extreme action.

The father is a registered libertarian. I'm personally a registered Democrat. But we still had a fantastic conversation about, you know, the local issues in our community. And he seemed to be someone who very much cared about Bethel Park and Allegheny County in general.

ACOSTA: And our affiliate WPXI spoke with neighbors who remember seeing some Trump signs outside the house. Is that something you recall? Did they appear to be Trump supporters?

GRZYBEK: I don't -- not whenever I knocked.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GRZYBEK: And again, I would -- I'm not someone who it all aligns with the ideology of former President Trump. I would say I'm much on the opposite side of the spectrum.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GRZYBEK: And like I said, had a very pleasant conversation with the father. So, that's not something that you know I have seen, but I would defer to his neighbors, who see the house a bit more often.

ACOSTA: And how frustrated are you that something like this could happen? I mean -- and we were just talking about this a few moments ago with the former Secret Service agent, this complete breakdown in security, and all of these red flags that were apparently missed. You had people at the rally that day saying there's a guy on the roof, please do something about it, and it just wasn't stopped in time.

GRZYBEK: Right. I'm by no means a security expert, so I don't want to pine on you know, what should have been done there.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GRZYBEK: But it does seem a layman's perspective, that there's more that could have and should have been done. Although I don't think that you know, we should necessarily be surprised by something like this. Bethel Park is a fantastic community.

We have great schools, great parks, and in -- generally, really kind people who come together in the face of tragedy. But we're also not unique from the rest of the country, and that we're a very polarized community. You know, we have a subset of people within the community that are part of that extreme.

And you know, do make others in the community feel very unwelcome. And while, again, that's not indicative of the overall community, the overall community is fantastic, I think it's important that we're honest with ourselves about you know the place in which we live and the country in which we currently live. And you know, the state of things right now.

ACOSTA: And, Councilman, I mean, he was able to get his hands on an AR-style rifle. And I know, you know, there are a lot of hunters and so on in that part of Pennsylvania. But does that sound like a good idea to you that a 20-year-old would be able to have that kind of a weapon?

GRZYBEK: No, you don't need an AR though.

ACOSTA: All right. Councilman Grzybek, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

GRZYBEK: Thank you very much.

ACOSTA: All right, we'll be right back.

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[11:43:59]

ACOSTA: All right, this just in. Secretary of State Tony Blinken sounding optimistic about the prospects for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza. Here's what he said a few moments ago.

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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I believe we're inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line and getting an agreement that would produce a ceasefire, get the hostages home, and put us on a better track to try to build lasting peace and stability. But --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And again, on what is that base --

BLINKEN: It's based on two things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Other than hope?

BLINKEN: Yes. Because hope's good, but it's -- but it's insufficient. No, it's based on reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Tel Aviv. Jeremy, you know, Secretary of State Blinken. He's a pretty cautious guy when it comes to making those kinds of statements. And for him to say we're inside the 10-yard line, that is interesting. What are you hearing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no doubt about it. I mean, some very strong optimism. I mean, I would note that I think the most optimism over the course of the last couple of weeks has been coming from the United States, more so than from the other parties involved or from the other mediators here.

[11:45:03]

But nonetheless, to hear the Secretary of State say out loud as he did here at the Aspen Security Forum that he believes that the negotiations are now within the 10-yard line of getting to a deal is very notable. He also -- he noted the fact that they are now finishing the negotiation on some critical details. Noting the fact that Israel and Hamas have effectively both signed on to a framework for this potential deal.

But it has been two weeks now since they effectively reached that framework agreement, and they are still going back and forth. We heard of meetings in Cairo, meetings in Doha, talk of progress, but also clearly many hurdles remaining. And one of the key questions is whether these two sides actually want to get to a deal.

Questions in Israel about the Israeli Prime Minister's commitment to getting to a deal, especially as he has reneged on some previous Israeli concessions. For example, allowing unfettered access for Palestinians to Northern Gaza. He now says he wants to prevent armed men from going there. That changes things a little bit.

So, we will see whether or not they can get past that 10-yard line. The Secretary of State in his comments also noting that he doesn't want to be naive and that those last 10 yards are often the hardest.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. No question about it. In the meantime, Jeremy, you're on the scene of a deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv. What can you tell us about that?

DIAMOND: Yes. Jim, in the early hours of this morning, this drone that the Houthi rebels in Yemen now have claimed responsibility for, it exploded in the air right above me in this residential neighborhood, sending shrapnel flying into apartment buildings, smashing into windows, damaging cars in the area. I spoke with a couple of residents who told me what they heard, including one man who said that he was on his balcony just seconds before impact.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And as soon as I turn around to close -- turn around to the door behind me, my friend yells, what's that? I heard this sound like an F-35 or an F-15, but it was 40 meters above sea level. It didn't make so sense to be that close.

And I hear boom. Red, orange, blasts, heats on the back of my neck, and we get pushed forward. The doors blast open.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The windows were, you know, broken, shattered. A lot of glass, ceramics, a lot of things were on the floor, and we realized that it was just outside the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And there are a lot of questions in Tel Aviv today about why this drone was not intercepted, why there were no sirens warning residents of this drone. The Israeli military says that they actually did identify this drone but did not identify it as a threat and did not intercept it. They say that that was human error. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv for us, thank you very much.

Just ahead. That massive tech outage is also impacting the upcoming Olympics. Athletes are scheduled to arrive in France today and get their credentials. The games are exactly one week away. A live report next.

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[11:52:18]

ACOSTA: There are fears the massive tech outage impacting the globe right now could affect the Paris Olympics and delay the athletes' arrivals. But now, the organizing committee for the Paris Games are -- they're saying right now that operations are running normally. The games begin next week.

And CNN's Patrick Snell joins us now. Patrick, I can't imagine this outage spoiling the party, but I'm sure they were worried there.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SNELL: It's been a day, Jim, of -- yes, let's just say concern at the very least. Certainly, if you go back a few hours, just picture the scene, we're exactly one week out now from the opening ceremony, which marks the official start of the Olympics. Over 10,000 athletes from over 200 National Olympic Committees, and, of course, the IOC refugee Olympic team as well, all heading into the French capital.

Yes, the build-up to the games, certainly impacted by that global outage. Organizers revealing on Friday that one of the main consequences had been the suspension of accreditation. Distribution centers were temporarily suspended.

But I can say literally, Jim, within the last few minutes, good news -- encouraging news because all of Paris 2024 operations now, we're told by organizers running normally. And those accreditation centers have been resuming operations. And as anyone knows who's covered these major sporting events, the biggest in the world, in this case, you can't get anywhere without your accreditation.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SNELL: It is absolutely vital for athletes and media alike. But in terms of travel, Paris's airports did not have outages. Charles-de- Gaulle and Orly did experience some delays and the temporary suspension of certain flight schedules as well. But the good news is back on track. And Jim, you know the excitement is being ramped up when you see athletes arriving into the Olympic Village as they did on Thursday. Officials in the French capital saying they're aiming to make these games the most responsible and sustainable games in history.

So much focus is going to be on the actual village itself. It always is in the build-up to any Olympics. In this case, 82 buildings. What's going to happen after it's all over?

They're going to convert the whole area into office space for thousands of workers. About 6000 workers are going to make apartments to house another 6000 people as well. That's really important in terms of --

ACOSTA: Yes.

SNELL: Longevity and long-term sustainability. It all happens -- it all starts a week today, Jim. I can't believe we're already at this point. It's going to be around 300,000 people gathering on the banks of the River Seine for the opening ceremony, a parade of those 10,000- plus athletes. No Olympics ever has staged an Olympic ceremony quite like this. In short, Jim, the world is watching.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. And we know that Paris is going to put on an amazing show. They always do.

Patrick Snell, we'll all be watching. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

[11:55:05]

And finally, this morning, the countdown is on in San Diego, where this dynamic panda duo will officially make their debut at the San Diego Zoo next month. But we're getting a sneak peek today. Take a look at this. After the zoo released an official video of the pair, a male named Yun Chuan and a female named Xin Bao, there they are, right there in their new habitat.

They are the first giant pandas to enter the U.S. in more than 20 years. Their black and white colors are making me miss Duke right now. So, I got to get home to my little guy, Duke. Just as cuddly as a panda.

Thank you very much for joining me in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta. Stay with CNN. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Dana Bash starts after a short break. Have a great weekend.

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