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The Situation Room

New Book Looks at Biden Presidency; Two People Killed Outside Capital Jewish Museum; Business Jet Crashes in San Diego. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired May 22, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now: Multiple deaths and more than a dozen homes are on fire when a business jet crashes in San Diego.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROWN: And we began this hour with our breaking news.

Multiple people are dead after a small private jet plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood in the middle of the night. And authorities say the fatalities appear to be from the plane. Some 15 homes and several cars caught fire as a result of the crash and there was dense fog in the air at the time.

BLITZER: CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is here with us in THE SITUATION ROOM.

So, Pete, what's the latest?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just heard this from San Diego Fire Chief Captain Dan Eddy. He says multiple people are dead after this incident that occurred about 3:45 in the morning local time Pacific Daylight Time.

The conditions here are going to be really key for investigators to look at. We know that this crash occurred in relatively thick fog, low visibility. The weather report at the time from the nearby Miramar Marine Corps Air Station was visibility two miles and mist.

This plane was a Citation II. It's a small business jet, seats between six and eight people, depending on the configuration. Unclear how many were aboard at the time of this crash, at least from officials there in San Diego. The big thing at the time of this incident was that they were mostly trying to knock down the fire that occurred because of all of the jet fuel on board this airplane.

This came down in a residential street not too far from the Montgomery-Gibbs Airport there in San Diego. I have flown in and out of that airport, three runways there. This plane was lined up to land, according to the flight track, according to FlightAware, on Runway 28 Left.

That's the longer -- sorry, 28 Right -- that's the longer of the two runways there that are parallel to one another. The fire chief described this as a horrific scene when they arrived there, and about 100 people, we're told, had to be evacuated to a nearby elementary school.

It is not clear if anybody on the ground faced any serious injuries or if there were any fatalities of those on the ground. The latest we're hearing from fire officials there in San Diego is that it appears the fatalities were those on board the plane.

The history of this plane is pretty telling and interesting. We know that this flight originally took off from the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey -- that's one of the busiest small airports in the country -- around 11:15 p.m. Eastern daylight time last night, flew for about three hours and 42 minutes, appeared to make what was an apparent fuel stop near Wichita, Kansas, at the Colonel James Jabara Airport, took off there about 2:36 Central time, and was scheduled to land the Montgomery Airport in San Diego around 3:45 a.m. Pacific daylight time.

Both of those legs over three hours, three hours 42 minutes, three hours 11 minutes for the second leg, within the capabilities of a small business jet like this. Some will, of course, ask about fuel starvation or fuel exhaustion, something that investigators cannot rule out, but does not seem like this plane ran out of fuel, considering the fact that there was fire on the ground there.

It seemed like there was fuel on board. We do know from the air traffic control audio that this pilot did not radio in any sort of distress call. And I want you to listen now to the audio. This airport has a control tower, but it was closed at the time because of the early hour of the day here.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

PILOT: Montgomery traffic, Citation triple 6 Delta Sierra, three miles final, 28.

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MUNTEAN: That was the last radio call by the pilot on board that plane, the last fateful radio called. No indication of any problems prior.

So, investigators really have their work cut out for them now, as they just now dig into this crash. This is something we know that fire officials will be on there, they said, for the next four to six hours and probably into the next day.

BLITZER: Pete Muntean helping us appreciate what's going on, thank you very much.

MUNTEAN: Thanks.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: That footage is just incredible.

BLITZER: Terrible, terrible.

BROWN: It's awful to see it.

I want to bring in seeing an aviation analyst and former Managing Director of the National Transportation Safety Board Peter Goelz.

Hi, Peter. Thanks for being here.

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Good morning.

BROWN: So, the NTSB has just laid out it's already investigating this crash. What will it be looking for?

GOELZ: Well, the first thing they're going to try and figure out is whether the Citation had a data recorder and a voice recorder. Hopefully, it had at least data recorder.

But at this kind of accident, where you're flying into an uncontrolled airport in heavy fog, I think they will be able to discern what happened fairly quickly. And one of the things that clearly is present here is, this airport was built back in the late 1930s, got operational in the '40s.

And, at that point, the housing was not adjacent to its runways. And as San Diego has grown, the housing is encroached on the flight paths of small airports. And it's not unique. And so it raises questions of the siting of airports and the approval of housing as close as it is.

BROWN: Yes, it certainly raises really important questions, given what happened here with this small plane crashing there in that neighborhood just before it was supposed to be landing.

And, as Pete laid out, the pilot didn't indicate there was any problem. There was no emergency that was declared. How does that sort of complicate things in trying to figure out the root cause here?

GOELZ: Well, it is.

It's going to be a complicated investigation if there is no voice recorder, if there is no data recorder. These recorders really are the map to solving small plane crashes or large plane crashes. And, in this case, it's not mandatory that they have these recorders on board.

Many do now. But this was probably an older plane. Citation II was first introduced back in the 1970s. So there will be a question on whether there is the appropriate data recorders on board. But it's going to be difficult.

BROWN: All right, Peter Goelz, thank you so much.

BLITZER: And there's more breaking news, Pamela, that we're following right now.

That deadly attack has rattled Jewish communities in the United States and indeed around the world. A gunman opens fire just outside the Capital Jewish Museum right here in the nation's capital, the victims, a very young couple. The Israeli ambassador to the United States says they were embassy staffers about to be engaged next week.

CNN has obtained video of the suspect being arrested outside the scene over at the Capital Jewish Museum and yelling to horrified bystanders.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, SUSPECT: Free, free, Palestine! Free, free Palestine!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

RODRIGUEZ: Free, free Palestine!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The suspect is now identified as a 30-year-old Chicago native.

BROWN: CNN's Alex Marquardt is at the scene of last night's attack.

Alex, what more are you learning this morning?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela and Wolf, we have heard from some of the top law enforcement officials in this country, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, who appeared here on the scene just a short time ago and did speak with reporters.

She was standing alongside the head of the DOJ's task force on antisemitism and said that the suspect, Elias Rodriguez, 30 years old from Chicago, will be prosecuted, she said, to the fullest extent of the law, but few other details from Bondi. She declined to say where the investigation stands or whether Rodriguez is cooperating with authorities.

She also declined to comment on whether federal prosecutors would be seeking the death penalty. We also heard from Dan Bongino, the deputy director of the FBI. He posted on X earlier today, calling what happened last night, this horrible tragedy, an act of terror that now has the full attention of your FBI.

Pam and Wolf, I am learning more about this young couple that was gunned down. Yaron Lischinsky, 30 years old, as you noted, I was told by an Israeli official that he had been at the embassy for just over two years. He worked in the political section as a researcher. He was originally born in Germany. He has German citizenship.

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And we also heard from the dean of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he went to college just a short time ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NISSIM OTMAZGIN, DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM: Yaron was an outstanding student and a wonderful person. His dream was to become a diplomat. And years after he studied, first degree, second degree, trained himself to become a diplomat, and he was actually just starting his new career as the diplomat, he was murdered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Starting his new career as a diplomat here at the embassy in Washington.That's where he met the woman who he wanted to marry, Sarah Milgram, a 26-year-old American who was also working at the embassy.

She had joined the embassy not long after the attacks of October 7. Her job was to coordinate trips of different kinds of groups, religious, research, political groups that were going to Israel.

The Israeli official I spoke with said -- quote -- "They had the cutest love story," that they were like a poster for a Netflix rom- com. Their romance, their love was well-known at the embassy, as were their plans to get engaged. Lischinsky was going to take Milgram back to Jerusalem next week and propose to her.

Milgram had not yet met Lischinsky's family. Of course, that love story ending in the most extraordinarily tragic way last night, as they were gunned down just after 9:00 p.m. leaving this event at the Capital Jewish Museum, an event that had been hosted by the American Jewish Committee. It was an interfaith event that was focusing on international aid, including aid for Gaza.

One other detail I was just told by that Israeli official is that, when these two were shot and killed, allegedly by the suspect, Elias Rodriguez, there were two other staffers from the Israeli Embassy. They were young American women. They were thankfully not hurt -- Wolf, Pamela.

BLITZER: All right, our deepest, deepest condolences to the families of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram. May they rest in peace. And, as we say, may their memories be a blessing.

Alex Marquardt, thank you very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: Such a young, beautiful couple.

BLITZER: Beautiful. And he had just bought an engagement ring. He was going to propose in Jerusalem in the next few days. And this is what happened.

BROWN: They had their whole lives ahead of them.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: And happening now: Law enforcement appears to be searching a home address that is associated with the individual who is suspected of shooting and killing these two Israeli Embassy staff members.

Many law enforcement vehicles are on the scene in the Albany Park neighborhood on Chicago's North Side, the street shut down by Chicago police.

BLITZER: Let's go live right now to see it in law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild. She's on the scene for us in Chicago.

So what's going on over there, Whitney?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we're still seeing law enforcement come in and out of that building.

The activity has certainly slowed. Shortly after 7:30 this morning,our team saw the FBI tactical units go inside that building. They brought a dog with them, presumably trying to find as much evidence as they can and, of course, rule out that there's a possibility of any threats based here in Chicago.

At this point, we have no indication that there is. But that is the question that law enforcement was immediately trying to answer this morning. As they move through this investigation, as you heard the attorney general say, they plan to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.

There are so many questions to answer, Wolf, law enforcement hoping that some of those answers are here in Albany Park. Again, they have been combing through this address associated with Elias Rodriguez for several hours at this point.

The FBI deputy director, Dan Bongino, took to Twitter today, saying that the early indicators here are that this was an act of terror, again, law enforcement continuing to investigate all of the threads. The major questions that they're trying to answer in this moment, Wolf, are, is anyone else associated with this crime and how did he actually commit it? How did he make his way from Chicago to Washington? How did he obtain the weapon?

These are all of the things that law enforcement is working through at this moment. Just to give you a sense of place here, this is Albany Park. This is in the North Side of Chicago. This is a highly dense neighborhood. This is a very ethnically diverse neighborhood, Wolf, and certainly rocking this neighborhood, as you see the street still shut down, law enforcement continuing to comb this area, Wolf.

BLITZER: Very sad, indeed. All right, Whitney Wild on the scene for us.

Whitney, thank you very, very much.

And still ahead, we're getting new details about how far the Biden White House went to keep the former president's decline away from the public and those inside the administration. CNN anchor Jake Tapper with more on his new book, "Original Sin." That's coming up next.

BROWN: President Trump's agenda clears a major hurdle. So what's next for what he calls his big, beautiful bill?

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: Here in Washington, an explosive and very important new book is revealing for the first time the extraordinary lengths the Biden White House went to shield the former president's decline from the American people, lawmakers and even members of his own Cabinet.

Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM right now, the two co-authors of this book, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, national political correspondent for Axios and a CNN political analyst. They're the co-authors of this book, "Original Sin." Let's put the cover-up there. There you see it, "President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again."

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Guys, congratulations on the new book. Thanks very much for coming in.

And of all of us, of course, wishing former President Biden a speedy recovery from his prostate cancer.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Of course, 100 percent.

BLITZER: You call this book a tragedy. Tell us why.

TAPPER: Well, it's a tragedy because -- well, for any number of reasons, one of which is, look, these issues having to do with aging and deterioration are issues that we all inevitably have to deal with, whether with a grandparent, a parent, or with ourselves.

And it's not a fun process to witness and one imagines to experience. But, beyond that, I think is the larger Shakespearian tragedy. President Biden was convinced that only he could defeat Donald Trump. And for that reason, he ran for reelection. And for that reason, he and his top aides and his family members helped hide how seriously his decline was.

And in the words and views of many Democratic officials we spoke with, we talked to more than 200 of them, by that decision, he delivered the country back into the hands of Donald Trump.

BLITZER: And most of those 200 were Democrats, right? TAPPER: Almost all of them were Democrats. And almost all of them

were after the election, when suddenly people were returning our phone calls.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BLITZER: After the election.

All right, let's talk a little bit about a trip that Biden took to Ireland back in April of 2023, Alex. He was joined there by Congressman Mike Quigley, who was alarmed by what he saw and confided his concerns to another Democrat on the trip.

Were there similar concerns being raised inside the Biden White House?

THOMPSON: Absolutely. And some of them were actually talking to me back in that same period, because there was serious concern about Joe Biden's ability to do the job, not necessarily at that time, but two years from now, three years from now, four years from now, so January 2029.

There were clearly already limits. He already clearly had limitations. That's why you started seeing the schedule become tighter and tighter, the public schedule. They were not putting him out front late at night or early in the morning very often, because they knew that sometimes he could be off.

And that was sort of the beginnings of why we call it a cover-up, is because over time it was just about making him look good. But, eventually, his decline was so precipitous that you could tell that he was actually struggling to do the job. And they were trying to hide how bad it had gotten from voters.

BLITZER: And the subtitle of the book, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," Jake, you mentioned the word cover-up.

TAPPER: Right.

BLITZER: Explain.

TAPPER: Well, we're not alleging a criminal cover-up, but a cover-up is, just the dictionary definition, when something bad is going on and you are trying to hide it from people. And that is what was happening.

Our reporting suggested that there were really two Bidens. There was a high-functioning Biden that was the kind of person you saw maybe during the 2020 campaign most of the time. And then there was a non- functioning Biden. This is the Biden who would lose his train of thought frequently, didn't recognize the people he'd known for years, couldn't come up with the names of top aides or important facts and figures.

And that Biden, let's call it the non-functioning Biden, started rearing his head more and more. He started rearing his head here and there in 2019, 2020, but increasingly 2023, 2024. And there was a concerted effort by the White House to hide that person from the public and from the media and, frankly, from his Cabinet, from Democratic officials, from other White House staffers as much as they could.

The guy that showed up on the debate stage on June 27, 2024, that wasn't a cold. That wasn't somebody who was underprepared or overprepared. That was just the natural result of somebody who had been having moments like that with increasing frequency behind the scenes for months and months.

BLITZER: Why did they agree to that first debate? It was relatively early in the campaign.

TAPPER: Very early.

BLITZER: Yes.

TAPPER: They agreed to it they -- for two reasons. One, they were eager to make the election not a referendum on Biden. They wanted it to be a contrast with Trump. And Biden was convinced that all he had to do was stand next to Trump, and people would see Trump, and then they would pick him.

And, two, they knew that they had -- especially after the Hur report dropped in February 2024, they knew they had this burden to prove with the American people this -- they had to show that Biden was up to the job, that so many people in the public, including Democrats, were just very skeptical that he was up to it.

So they wanted to have a debate performance where he showed that he could, and, instead, he cemented the impression that he was not up to it.

THOMPSON: I would just add that Joe Biden was a bit in denial about his own limitations. He would frequently behind the scenes say, I feel so much younger than my age, and he wanted -- to Jake's point, he believed that, if he got on that debate stage, he would win. Joe Biden wanted to debate Donald Trump.

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BLITZER: He really did. That was a terrible debate, I must say, from Biden's perspective, as we all saw.

It's interesting, Alex, because his team, the Biden team says: "There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged."

THOMPSON: I would just say that, and I believe that Joe Biden believes that, his spokesperson believes that, a lot of people around him believe it.

But we talked over 200 people, and a lot of those people were senior administration officials, and they disagree. They believe that -- and that includes Democratic senators, includes Cabinet officials, includes senior White House people that believe that his age diminished his ability to do the job, even in that last year-and-a- half of the presidency.

And that's why we wrote the book, because those people do disagree.

TAPPER: We talked to Cabinet secretaries. I'm sorry to interrupt. We talked to Cabinet secretaries who said that, by the end of 2024, President Biden could not be relied upon if there was that proverbial 2:00 a.m. phone call with a national security emergency.

The fact that there wasn't that kind of call is great, but what if there had been? That's Cabinet secretaries that said that. That's not me and Alex. That's Cabinet secretaries.

BLITZER: Interesting.

How has writing this important book, investigating the Biden presidency, Jake, informed you about how to cover the current president?

TAPPER: Well, I just think, in general, not Trump-specific, but, in general, I think that the press corps, and certainly including myself, needs to worry less about politeness when it comes to these health issues, and needs to be even more aggressive when it comes to demanding transparency on health issues when it comes to the president.

President Trump, while he appears healthy, he has not been transparent about his health records. And I think that that's something that the American people have a right to.

BLITZER: You want to add something?

THOMPSON: Yes, I think, listen, this is not the first time this has happened. Woodrow Wilson, FDR, JFK all had -- hid significant medical failings.

Joe Biden did not -- was not totally transparent. It is going to happen again inevitably unless there is something forcing such disclosures.

BLITZER: Alex Thompson, Jake Tapper, the book, an important book indeed, a bestseller already, we actually bought it.

TAPPER: Thank you. I know. I appreciate it.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: Pam is trying to get a free one.

BROWN: Yes, I am. I'm trying to get a free one. I thought it's the least -- a signed copy from Jake Tapper.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: If you can't afford this book, I'm going to talk to your agent, because...

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: If you can't afford to give me this book, I'm going to talk to your agent.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: I told you it's money out of Alex's pocket, money out of Alex's pocket that I'm concerned about.

BLITZER: The book is entitled "Original Sin." Here's the cover right here, "President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again."

Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, thanks very much for coming in.

TAPPER: Thanks, guys.

THOMPSON: Thanks.

TAPPER: It's great to be here.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very, very much.

BROWN: And we're learning much more about the deadly shooting outside of Jewish museum in Washington. Two young Israeli embassy staffers were killed.

Stay with us.

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