Zacharia Out as White House Press Secretary After Just 5 Days

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0:43Shaq. Hey, have you always been so big, tall, and handsome? Not always. I was 6 '10 once. Seven days to love it or return it, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven-day return the policy at caravana.com. Good evening from the newsroom. We begin tonight with White House Press Secretary Katie Zachariah out of the job she held for just five months. She only gave one press conference, which was Tuesday, and it ran less than, excuse me, days, and it ran less than 15 minutes. She now holds the new record for shortest employment of a top White House press official.

1:21First-term communications director Anthony Scaramucci, the previous record holder, lasted six days longer than she did. He posted today, records are made to be broken, but I take no pleasure in other people's pain. About an hour later, he added graciously, dear Katie Zachariah, speaking as the world's leading expert on short White House tenures, turn off the news, go enjoy your family. In time, you'll realize that the universe did you a major favor. Even the president, who announced her hiring exactly seven days ago, seemed to be trying to soften the blow when he foreshadowed her departure earlier today.

1:52Well, Katie's been treated very badly by the media, very, very badly, very unfairly, I think. And I just spoke to her about it. I said, Katie, is this for you? Because, you know, she's been treated very rough and she's a nice person, very nice person. I've watched her for years on television, but I said, is this for you, Katie? Because honestly, you don't need this. Well, this comes, as you know, after she became the story herself, first with a press conference that was as poorly received inside the White House as it was short. I want to ask you a policy question. Has the U.S. stopped sharing intel with Ukraine?

2:33I'll have to get back to you on that. He had a historic one-day war and now we are have a booming economy and a great relationship with Venezuela. The idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable. So my president, excuse me, my husband, that's a good one. Well, just moments after that and even before White House officials began telling reporters how bad they thought her performance was, Zacharias stepped on another rake with this. Where did she pass the bar exam? She said she's an attorney. Where did she pass the bar exam? Which state? Where did she pass the bar exam? Where did you pass the bar exam?

3:19Well, that was Tuesday. By Wednesday, she was claiming she had misheard the question. Reports were out that she'd taken and failed the California bar exam in 2011. And by yesterday, she was saying that experts in the field had told her it was okay to call herself a lawyer, anyhow, just not an attorney. And then social media posts of hers surfaced in which she quoted other posts describing her as an attorney. By last night, after we left the air, she was doing damage control on Sean Hannity, or trying to because he was not having any of it. Take a look. You had your first moment as press secretary.

3:55It's been widely panned. I'm sure you're aware. Am I hearing that you think the staff should have prepped you better? So you said you consulted with many people, and they advised you that it was okay to call yourself a lawyer but not an attorney, correct? Correct. Okay, there's a report out tonight that showed 15 social media posts where you identify yourself as an attorney. Why only three questions in 14 minutes? And what might you do a little differently going forward? Well, this morning in the wake of that, she was asked whether she still had the confidence of the president. Here's how she answered.

4:33I'm standing here and I was able to travel with him through all of the midterm convention or excuse me, the midterm rallies. And I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me. Well, she's now not getting that chance. CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us now from the White House with more. So you have some new reporting on the vetting process that she underwent. What have you learned?

4:59Well, the question is, was there a lot of vetting that went into this? And Anderson, according to multiple White House officials and advisors, the short answer to that is no. Instead, her selection came amid growing frustration from President Donald Trump himself that there were not enough voices out there on the airwaves really defending him during this midterm coverage and as his approval rating has hit an all-time low. So while her firing was swift, her hiring was also swift. There had been a vacancy in this press secretary role for a number of weeks after Caroline Levitt departed, and Trump did not seem to be in a rush to fill that role.

5:40In fact, he said it multiple times, that he was not worried about having someone in that position. But as he selected Zachariah, there were a number of names that were out there, had been floated, had been discussed, some of them publicly. Zachariah, though, seemed to come a bit out of nowhere. She is a conservative commentator. She had been on TV. Those appearances ended up serving as somewhat of an audition for the president. He thought she could step into this role. And her selection came after some of the others that were being considered were deemed ineligible for some past critical comments that they had made about Trump.

6:18But going back on this timeline, she found out that she was going to be in this role on Friday. The first official day was on Monday, and then on Tuesday was that press briefing. It lasted for roughly 14 minutes. It was stumbly. She had her opening statements. She referenced her notes frequently throughout that, and then she only took questions from three reporters there in the room. So there was growing concern, but it did seem, though, Trump was less concerned than some in his orbit about this. In fact, on a flight to Alaska shortly after that, yeah, on that flight shortly after that, he told her that she did do a good job.

6:57Obviously, some of that changed. Do you know what ultimately led President Trump to fire her? He was not happy with the coverage of that press conference as time went on and he saw the negative reviews out there. But there was also another moment that really showed kind of a gap in understanding a learning curve that needed to happen at that event there in Alaska that I referenced. She had scheduled for him to do an interview following that. Many had advised her that that was not the thing to do, that after he does these two-hour events, he does not want to do more interviews. So again, just showing that there was a lot to learn in this role, in this position.

7:37Yeah. Julia Benbrook, appreciate it. In Florida with the president, thanks. Joining us now is former White House press secretary for President Bill Clinton, Joe Lockhart and CNN political director David Chalian. Joe, you heard CNN's new reporting that Zachariah didn't undergo a vetting process, essentially, before she was really offered the press secretary job by the president. Given how this president operates, does that even surprise you at this point? Not really. I mean, I think many of the senior positions in the White House and in the government are filled via watching Fox News or any of the right-wing outlets.

8:09And it doesn't appear, looking from the outside, that he takes the substance of these jobs very seriously. He takes the appearance of these jobs, and most importantly, how those people speak about him. And he had plenty of data on her, watching her speak very highly of him, and that seemed to be enough. What do you think ultimately sealed her fate, David? Well, I think the president realized that this was an error that was blowing up in his face. And I don't think we can separate the timing out here, too. You know, Anderson, we're 18 days away from the midterm election. And this, to me, is just another data point in how much defense Republicans are playing.

8:57And so if the main sort of messaging and communications operation out of the White House is supposed to be geared towards doing everything possible to help Republicans mitigate some of these expected losses as best they can. This was a complete failure in that. And we don't usually see Donald Trump sort of correct mistakes this quickly, but he clearly saw that this was not a tenable situation and moved pretty quickly to get rid of her. And Joe, you've been clear you didn't think she was qualified to be the White House press secretary. Do you think it was the right decision for the president to cut his losses this quickly and move on?

9:35well listen i don't think she had even the minimum qualifications for the job and more importantly didn't do any of the preparation that should go into that job it's it is an important job that's an important room the world looks to that room at times for what america thinks what america's doing what our values are and it's become some in my view somewhat of a somewhat of a joke. I think in this case, he's responding to, you know, outside coverage, not actually what happened. And they use the this thing about the attorney as a cover. So it didn't look like it was his fault. He's he's made a mistake, but has somehow messaged this around the media is at fault and this woman is at fault rather than him.

10:18All very convenient, but not not particularly credible. And David, I mean, it is kind of amazing we're 18 days away from the midterm elections. There's now no White House spokesperson. And she's let go. And Kimberly Guilfoyle also is fired. It says a lot just about, A, how decisions are made and the West Wing, how it is or is not functioning. Yeah, Anderson, last week when he put out on True Social that Katie Zachariah was going to be the new press secretary. and immediately our reporting from our White House team was that this came as a surprise to many insiders inside the West Wing. I mean, that just shows the lack of the vetting process, the lack of the normal sort of seriousness with which a hire like this would take place and sort of shooting from the hip.

11:08And the fact that that is how they're operating, that the president is choosing to operate his White House, especially this close to an election, I just think speaks to just this enormous amount of defense that they're playing. It reminds me of the Haley Barber expression, you know, when things are going well, you know, they get better. And when things are going bad, they get worse. And this is the environment Republicans find themselves in. And the president offered up yet another data point of things getting worse for Republicans at this time. Joe, I got to say, I was very impressed with Anthony Scaramucci's post.

11:39I mean, I thought it was just incredibly gracious him saying he said, dear, you know, Katie Zacharias, because the world's leading expert on short White House tenures, turn off the news, go enjoy your family, and Tom, you'll realize the universe did you a major favor. Do you think he's right? Yeah, I think it's right. I think it speaks to Anthony. I think, you know, Anthony's a very bright, thoughtful guy who was put in the wrong job at the wrong time. But I think he has, you know, certainly recovered from that. And I think it was the right sentiment. You know, I think, you know, that we should have some sympathy for, you know, for this woman, because she was put in an impossible situation, and then and moved out.

12:18And, you know, you know, I guess in our culture that it doesn't matter why you have 15 minutes of fame, you get it, you'll have a platform, there'll be someplace out there, or she'll make her name here, and she'll be fine. It's just, it continues to bother me that kind of every one of these institutions that the president touches, he cheapens in a way that serves him rather than the reason they're there. We don't have an East Wing. The Kennedy Center is covered up. He's put his name on everything. And all of them, I think, have less value than before he got there. Yeah. And a lot of shoddy work also being done in various places.

12:56What do you think happens, David, with the White House press secretary roll now? I mean, does it go unfilled past until the midterms? It's a good question, Anderson. You know, as Julia was noting in her report to you, he had publicly said the president that he wasn't in a hurry to fill it when Caroline Levitt left. It's also just such a unique position specifically for this president, given he is constantly speaking on his own behalf in a way that other presidents usually don't. And so it sort of questions the value of this position. I will be very interested to see if he thinks in these next 18 days he wants someone else speaking for him at that podium, or if he's just going to dictate the messaging himself from here on out in this election season.

13:40David Challey and Joe Lockhart, I appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up next, the president in a deep red corner of Georgia, as new signs point to the electorate, trending bluer in a number of districts around the country. The president won by double digits just two years ago. And later, all we are learning about the three young lives taken at an elementary school in Oregon, the teacher who was killed trying to save them, and the bystander who ran toward danger and killed the 16-year-old shooter.

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15:03Still haven't started? Hey, better late than never. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply. Just 18 days out from the midterm, the president was in Dalton, Georgia today, a part of the state he won by 44 points in 2024. If any place would be receptive to the line he's been delivering almost every place he goes, this would be it. You have to pretend I'm on the ballot. Okay, the story is this. We get 49 % more vote when I'm on the ballot. When I'm not on the ballot, I guess it's a compliment, but people don't show up so much. You have to go out and vote. So pretend I'm on the ballot.

15:43He's asking that, though, with his job approval numbers at record lows for him and with inflation rising in oil today at$110 a barrel, none of which has made him temper statements like this one today. This has been considered by, I think, almost everyone to be the most successful two years. And we're not even close to the two years. We've got four months to go. Of a president in history, it's the most successful two years of a presidency. see. Well, whatever Dalton, Georgia, might make of that claim, there was another sign today of trouble for Republicans, even in deep red districts. The Cook Political Report shifting 11 more House races closer toward Democrats, including five likely Republican races to lean Republican.

16:30Cook also re-rated an open seat in Montana's first district from lean Republican to toss-up. The president was there campaigning just two days ago. Joining us now is former Republican Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, CNN political commentator Sabrina Singh, and New York Times journalist and podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro. So Governor Pawlenty, does it make sense to you the president is promoting this reality in which there is low inflation and prices are coming down and gas prices are way down and that the economy is in a golden age? Do you think he can convince his base to not believe what many may be seeing with their own eyes?

17:03Well, the voters may not appreciate that fully based on his current approval ratings, but keep in mind one important thing in the closing days of this campaign, Anderson, is to get the base out. Each party wants to maximize base support, and among the hardcore Republican base, President Trump still remains pretty popular. So optimizing or maximizing that turnout is one variable they can do to try to improve the outlook going into what's going to be a tough midterm for Republicans. Sabrina, you work for the Biden administration. It's why I believe President Biden and subsequently Vice President Harris did not take economic realities serious enough for voters or could not explain them.

17:39Is President Trump, you think, making that same mistake? I think he is, Anderson. I mean, when I was in the Biden administration, you know, we kept saying inflation was transitory. But the reality is, is that people did not feel like the economy was working for them. And we didn't acknowledge that pain that they were feeling, whether it was at grocery stores or, you know, everyday bills. And so I think the fact that the president is trying to say that the economy is better than ever when you have gas prices, grocery prices, health care costs going up through the roof. This is exactly what the president campaigned against.

18:11And I think this election will be decided on the economy and corruption. And I think that's what's really motivating Democrats right now to get out and vote and to vote against this president who keeps saying, you know, pretend like I'm on the ballot. Well, damn right. Democrats are going to pretend like you're on the ballot. And we're very motivated to get out there and vote right now. Lulu, we mentioned the Cook Political Report shifting 11 more House seats toward Democrats, many in red states. This is amid the president's final campaign blitz. What do you think that signals? Or do you believe?

18:42I think it signals that, I mean, I think it's hard to know, but everything tells us at this point that as we've been hearing just on the show over and over, things are looking pretty bleak. And that's why the president is hustling everywhere that he can, trying to get votes wherever he can. But I think one of the main takeaways that I have from this is not that he needs to explain the economy better. You know, Donald Trump has learned his lesson in the sense that he likes to create his own reality. But the fact is that the reality is that things are bad. And so you can't explain that away. You can't message that away.

19:20That isn't something that you can just go out and put on a red hat and wave an American flag and say everything's OK, because at the end of the day, people see those gas prices. It's not something that is about optics or messaging. It's about actually what people are having to pay at the pump and at the grocery store, et cetera, et cetera. Governor Palincki, I just want to play another part of the president's speech in Georgia today. I call him Pee-wee Herman. Pee-wee Herman. Looks like Pee-wee. His name is John Ossoff, highly overrated. Somebody said he's a good-looking man. I don't think he's a good-looking man.

19:58I actually think Mike Collins is a good-looking man.

20:06And he's all man. He's all man. I'm not sure about us. If I'm casting a movie for a senator, I like the white hair. I like the big, strong build. Big, strong guy. But that's what I want. But he's a respected man. I'm not sure what he was insinuating about Ossoff, but why does he keep commenting on men's appearances? I mean, it's sort of fascinating to me. You know, he says all kinds of things that are sort of entertaining. But, you know, what the voters want to hear is what's going on with my pocketbook? What's going on with affordability? What's going on in the economy? And what can you say about bringing prices down?

20:45Even if you can't do it in the next 18 days, can you have a plan to bring them down further? That's the number one issue. And I don't think voters are going to be that interested in the relative good looks or not of candidates on the ballot. Yeah. I mean, Sabrina, I mean, he's, you know, commenting on men's asses, which you don't hear a lot from presidents of the United States ever, really. Do Democrats run the risk, you think, Sabrina, of being too confident in this polling, given what we have seen pretty much every election? Well, certainly, again, you know, the president's comments, I think the governor hit on it.

21:15It's just kind of strange, a little quirky. I do think that Democrats have to be cautiously optimistic. I think we feel good and bullish about the House changing hands and to the Democrats. We still have a lot of work to do when it comes to flipping the Senate. And I think that's why you're seeing Democratic leadership from all sort of parts of our big tent party campaigning across the country, because we can't take that for granted. So you're every dollar, every door, every vote. We got to get out there. We got to earn it because we just can't take anything for granted right now. And the polls are going to tighten.

21:46I think you're going to see that even in some House races. So we just have to keep up the energy right now. And, Lulu, I want to play something else the president said today about Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He's as bad almost as Mohammed Abdul El-Sayed. You know, I took a lot of heat for calling him Mohammed. And I said, I don't care. I'm the president of the United States. I can call you whatever the hell I want.

22:20I can call you whatever I want, Muhammad. And then today, a guy sends me something. His name is actually Abdullah something. It's Abdullah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Muhammad, I'll say that. So his middle name is Muhammad. So I was right, almost. Oh, by the way, how about that guy? He's a jihadist. He's a radical left person, hates our country. How do you think, I mean, do you think that works for the people he wants to turn out? No, I mean, I think it's racist, obviously. He's using Muhammad as a sort of slur when it's the name of the prophet for Muslims. And then beyond that, it's just more of the same.

23:12And again, I think at other moments in time, you know, he was able to create these culture war moments. I'm not sure Abdul El-Sayed is going to win, by the way, but I don't think he's not going to win because President Trump calls him Mohammed. I think he might not win because people might not like his policies, because people have legitimate questions about whether he represents their values. I mean, that's all fair game. This stuff is a sideshow. Sabrina Singh, Lulu Garcia Navarro, Tim Pawlenty. Appreciate it. Thanks very much. Coming up next, fresh signs that the already rocky relationship between the president and Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky is at a new low, and dangerously so for Ukraine.

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24:47Since the announcement of a U.S. deal to allow Russia to sell diesel fuel on the global market, the president has lashed out at the Ukrainian leader, calling him a, quote, dictator without elections on social media and saying this in an interview last night. I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin. More difficult to deal with than the Russian dictator. Today, the president softened his tone somewhat, telling reporters that his relationship with Zelensky is good. He also told reporters that he was not behind what Ukrainian officials said. It was an unannounced and unexplained slowdown at the speed of the military's version of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet services called Starshield, which are critical to Ukrainian defenses and drone attacks against Russian forces.

25:31It wasn't us. I checked it this morning. They say it's the same as it always has been. I don't know if it was anybody because it wasn't me. And I don't think it was Elon. And from what I understand, it's the same as it's always been. Zelensky, for his part, made his response clear in what he didn't say when asked about the president's recent troubles on the world stage. Do you think you are being treated as a scapegoat for his own problems?

26:13This is my answer. Joining us now is CNN Global Affairs analyst Brett McGurk, who held senior national security posts under the last four presidents. He's also author of the fascinating new book called Brink Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages, which is on bookshelves now. No. Brett, I want to get to the book in a moment. First, though, CNN reported Ukraine has run out of missiles for the Patriot air defense system, according to a source. Given the urgent need to defend their cities, how bad is this tension between the U.S. and Ukraine, whoever is responsible for whatever happened with this Star Shield system?

26:48Yeah, Anderson, I think it's a grim picture. If you step back and you're a strategist, we're kind of in a global conflict environment. I don't want to be overly alarmist. We've talked about crank gun on this program, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and just take Ukraine as exhibit A. You know, Russia is now producing, Anderson, 6 ,000 Shahid drones a month. Half of those now rocket propelled. That's Iranian technology that Iran transferred to Russia. Russia is producing 200 ballistic missiles per month. And we're in this new age of missile warfare and just targeting civilian and energy infrastructure.

27:23and Russia is just determined to pound Ukraine now heading into the winter. And to keep up with the defenses for that, we just can't. We have a math problem. And you see this coordination between these other powers. North Korea has sent tens of thousands of troops for the Russians to help in this fight against Ukraine. And if you're Putin, you're not making any advances on the ground. Russia's losing 30, 35 ,000 casualties every month, but now he believes he has dominance in the air. And heading into winter, he always believes he can break the will of the Ukrainians in the winter months by targeting civilian infrastructure, electricity, energy, heating systems.

28:08And I think that's what we're heading into. The answer to that is consolidation amongst Western allies, and unfortunately, we don't have that. So I think we're heading into a very difficult winter period here. as we're also dealing, of course, with the conflict in Iran and China waiting in the wings. It's a grim global national security environment from what I'm seeing. In your new book, you really bring people into the rooms where decisions were being made. The book is called Brink It Again. It's in bookstores right now. I mean, you're taking people into complex negotiations to try to free the Israeli hostages were taken by Hamas in 2023.

28:48You have two sides with seemingly intractable positions. How did you find a way to bridge the gap? How did people find a way to bridge a gap? Yeah, we're talking about Russia, Ukraine. And Brink Anderson, you're right. I try to bring readers into the room, into all the rooms, from Washington, the Oval Office situation room, to overseas, sitting with Netanyahu or sitting with intelligence chiefs with Hamas on one floor, Israel on the other. and from October 8th on, Hamas had one position. If you want the hostages, we stay in power. We will reconstitute on Israel's borders and we go back to October 6th status quo.

29:22And Israel's position was after what happened on October 7th, Hamas will never remain in power in Gaza. And the hostages were caught in between that. And in the book, I tell the story of the negotiations and how protracted they were. You know, Anderson, we had a deal a month into the war for all women and children. Very hard to get that deal. We eventually got it. And on the eighth night, and if you're in the book, the reader's with me at this moment, you know, Hamas sends a message and says, you know what, we're going to hold on to the younger women. These were women taken from the Nova Music Festival.

29:54And Anderson, you covered this story with just such compassion over that period. And we face this moral dilemma. Do you skip the younger women and talk about the older men who are also in rough shape. And at that moment, the decision was made, if you skip the younger women, they'll never come out. And all the way through the book, at the end, three of these women, Romy, Daron, and Emily, one taken from Nova, another taken from a kibbutz called Khaferaza, where also a young American toddler was taken hostage when her parents were killed in front of her, eventually come out in the deal we eventually brokered.

30:31But that story runs through the book, And in the backdrop, Anderson, and one reason it's called Brink, is that we are constantly on the brink of an all-out regional war. You had the Iranians organizing their proxy forces. We had multiple missile and drone attacks. You get a flavor reading this book of what that's like, how hard it is to defend. And I just tried to tell the story as it was in the immediacy of the moment. And the reader is kind of right there with all these leaders, intel chiefs, as we're trying to contain, deter, and ultimately get the ceasefire. and get the hostages out. That was the goal.

31:06Yeah, the level of detail in the book is extraordinary. It's called Britt McGurk. Thank you so much. Thanks, Anderson. Up next, new details about the deadly shooting at a Bend, Oregon elementary school, including the quick heroic actions of a parent and a teacher. And later, a CNN exclusive inside the fight to take back Haiti from violent gangs and the role a controversial military contractor is playing in that effort.

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32:10Right. Okay, we can afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months, $90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required,$15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Tonight we're learning more about the deadly shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. Authorities say the victims were all shot in a special needs classroom.

32:39One of the three students killed was five-year-old Rome Summer. The families of the two other students killed, an eight-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy, have declined to make their names public. The teacher killed was 25-year-old Megan Lambert. She grew up in Bend. Also tonight, we know the identity of the armed bystander who killed the teen shooter. His name is Caleb Giammanco, a father whose two children attend the school. Seeing as Nick Watt is in Bend, Oregon tonight with more. So what more have we learned about the two victims that have been identified by law enforcement? Well, yeah, Rome, Summer, as you said, Anderson, five years old, five years old.

33:19The eight and the 11-year-old, We haven't been given their names yet. Megan Lambert, 25-year-old teacher. Her family said that this was her first job. This was her dream job. And in a statement, they said Megan was compassionate, had a huge heart. She always fought for the underdog and those with special needs. She was an incredible sister, daughter, niece, and granddaughter. Her friends became her family. She was funny and opinionated, and she lit up the room. Dead at 25. Anderson. And obviously, I mean, this father who was able to stop the shooter is extraordinary. The bravery. Do we know anything more about him?

33:59Yeah. So he is 36 years old. We're told by officials he was just passing by, saw the shooter go in, stopped. He had a legal handgun in his glove box, a 40 caliber pistol. He followed the gunman in. When he got into that classroom, he saw a teacher who had thrown her cell phone at the shooter and was then wrestling with him. So this man, Caleb Giamanko, then shot the shooter multiple times. Now on this memorial behind me, Anderson, a bunch of kids have been writing in chalk and a lot of them have written, thank you, Caleb. Now without him and that teacher, this would have been much worse. This could have been much worse.

34:37The shooter, we're told, had 44 rounds of ammunition still on him. after he was taken out. Now, Caleb's mother has said, listen, he doesn't want any gratitude. He doesn't want any recognition. He's just grateful to all the other people who helped out. And beyond the three children, one teacher killed, there was another child, another teacher who was shot, survived. Do we know how they are doing? Yeah. Yeah, they're doing well. So 54-year-old Becky Drury, she was a special ed assistant. She, we're told, has had serious but not life-threatening injuries. The other person injured, the seven-year-old, seven-year-old, we're told, is in a critical but stable condition.

35:21So non-life-threatening and stable, those are probably the best words, the best news that have come out of Bend, Oregon today. In a mess of absolute pain and silence. People here say the real thing that they're missing is the noise. There are no kids playing. There are no kids laughing. Just silent. Thanks very much. I appreciate it. CNN chief law enforcement analyst John Miller joins me now. I mean, the actions, again, of this dad, the teacher who threw her cell phone at the shooter, tackled him, are pretty incredible. I mean, obviously, both of their actions save lives. No, that is quite clear, Anderson.

36:01And I mean, for an individual armed with a gun to go up against another individual armed with a gun, a bigger gun, albeit, is an act of tremendous courage. But for a 25-year-old teacher who's armed with nothing to throw her cell phone at the subject to distract him from shooting and then attack him and wrestle him for the gun, that's extraordinary courage. You know, what they teach them in these drills is run, hide, or fight. And there was no running at that point. He was shooting at children. There was no hiding. And she decided to fight. Incredible courage demonstrated by both of them. And this on picture day, where the children came in their Sunday best to get their pictures taken.

36:47And for some of those families, the pictures will be delivered home, but the children will not. it's really unspeakable, both the tragedy and the courage. This killer had 44 remaining rounds of ammunition. He'd also shot at a car when someone tried to confront him before going into the school. It certainly talks, and he had been to this school, it certainly tells you something about his preparation, or does it tell you anything about his mindset? Well, it does. I mean, number one, it tells us he was extraordinarily mission focused. We know things tonight that we did not know today and did not know last night when we spoke about this.

37:33But as he's approaching the school, he's carrying the shotgun. This is about a 12 minute walk from his home where he lived with his mom. He gets to the fence. He throws the gun over the fence. Then he's scaling the fence. And at that point, the person in that red pickup truck we just saw with the bullet holes in it starts yelling at him, engaging him, saying, where are you going? What are you doing with a gun? And he opens fire on that vehicle. So he starts right in at the first sign of any interference or resistance to go aggressive, shoots his way through the glass doors and then crawls through the broken glass to get in and goes straight to that special needs classroom.

38:13Anderson, this has tremendous meaning. We don't fully understand what that meaning is yet, but what it tells us is he was a student in that special needs class when he was 10 years old. So six years ago, he could have gone to the school he went to after that, or if he was going to a school now, we don't know if he was being homeschooled or not. But he chose to go back to that place. if he fits the profile of many of these shooters, an injustice collector who believes that all of his problems are the fault of other people, this may be where he identified those problems started or where he was first felt picked on or ostracized, whether it was from people in that class or people outside that class.

39:00but he was definitely fixed on going to that school, that classroom, and killing people that he didn't know that hadn't affected his life in some kind of reaction to his unhappiness. Yeah, John Miller, I appreciate you. And don't look for it to make sense. I mean, it rarely does to us. It rarely does. Thank you. Coming up, Nick Payton Walsh got exclusive access to an operation led by security contractors working with security forces in Haiti to combat gang violence in the country. We'll bring you his report next.

39:38Well, Haiti, as we've reported extensively on this program over the years, has had more than a share of troubles from poverty, mismanagement, devastating earthquakes in 2021 and 2010, as well as political turmoil and gang violence. The U.N. estimates that 70 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince is now in the hands of armed gangs who've destroyed hospitals and infrastructure and terrorize residents. A former U.S. Navy SEAL, who's a well-known private security tycoon, Eric Prince, formerly the CEO of Blackwater, has been contracted to help Haiti's security forces go after gangs. CNN's Nick Payton Walsh got exclusive access to their operation, and we want to warn you, some of what you're about to see is graphic.

40:15Here's Nick's report. Haiti is so stifled and tormented by gangs, the fight against them has spread to hills outside the capital, Port-au-Prince.

40:38Here in Kenskoff, they were pushed out, but stormed back in again, killing and kidnapping dozens of locals in revenge. We joined police on a days-long advance to reclaim tiny remote villages with blurring faces for security.

41:14But as we move in with the police, the gangs use the fog and hills to keep shooting.

41:25You can see that debris barrier there. I mean, another way the gang slowed the police down. About seven or eight shots have kind of flown over us. We've heard the crack. It's a sign that the gangs are still really close by and don't want the police to ever feel comfortable down here. There's another one. More barricades lie ahead. Locals eager on the road to get back to homes they've not seen for two years. The barricades dismantled and burned so the gangs can't return and remake them. It was an extraordinary scene of locals just flooding in to kind of reclaim their own streets after the gangs have been pushed out.

42:07A ritual praising the heavens, overshadowed by ruin.

42:22Hours earlier, two helicopters used a pause in the rain to land a police SWAT team in the hilltops. The helicopters are part of American security tycoon Eric Prince's operation here, bringing new capabilities and the experience of foreign ex-special forces, but not for free. And these are the first pictures of Prince's private security fighters in Haiti, who led the push with specialised Haitian police in what's called the task force. I hear a lot of things about you. See up here? He tells the police where to position. Nobody has seen their operations in Haiti before. And this drone footage shows gang members fleeing.

43:08Eric Prince made his name and millions in Iraq with Blackwater, sullied and reprimanded over civilian casualties there. His ties to Blackwater long severed, he is now selling a new idea, that private security, mercenaries to their detractors, can tackle security or gang problems for failing states that can't. Yeah, that's the bad city right there. That's the bad part right there. Yeah. He was first sent to Haiti as a Navy SEAL 32 years ago, and now he gave CNN his first interview and access to his operation here. When we started a police truck like the one we rode in here on, pretty much one of those was lost every week.

43:51Attacked, ambushed, burned, the occupants slaughtered, butchered. That's done now because there's much better response, quicker air support, drones, whatever, that prevents the police from being overmatched. That's really why we're here. Over 2 ,000 drone strikes on varied targets in the past year, a task force source said. Here, on what they said was a gang Molotov cocktail factory. Prince wouldn't reveal his annual fee of likely tens of millions of dollars, but on top of that, he gets a tenth of any new customs revenue generated if his leaner operation ends smuggling at dozens of illegal border crossings.

44:31Did you put a number on what your contract is worth in terms of what the Haitian government pay you? The previous UN force is that our cost is one-sixth of what their annual camp cost was. So it's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. He had aimed to free up Key Roads within a year here, but hasn't. Although the UN has said this year has seen the gang spread in the capital halted, even reversed. You haven't killed any major gang leaders yet. Have there been challenges in some of the operations you're doing? Is not killing top leaders part of your strategy? Look, insurgencies are not defeated by taking out just leadership.

45:11I know there's been an obsession of that in the United States, but wars are won by taking significant numbers of enemy manpower off the battlefield. We are in the process of doing that and enabling sovereignty to resume. To grasp the enormity of the collapse and daily trauma, we head to the once vibrant downtown of the capital. So long gang held, the swathes of it are now overgrown, as though nature is tired of the violence and wants to take back control. We patrol at dawn with the new UN-mandated gang suppression force. Here soldiers from Chad. First light when those who live under the gangs make their daily break for it to head out to the rest of the world, on foot through rivers of sewage and trash to reach work or food.

46:01A body lies abandoned in the road, likely dumped there overnight.

46:09We go back with them at dusk to see it all happen again for the home trip. Talk about how desperate life must be here. To attempt this in the daylight must simply be terrifying. It's eerie being here inside an armoured personnel carrier, but they're risking it out on the street here in the dark. Many of them carry what looks like food for their homes, things back into gang-held areas. The promise of a quick fix at a price that's still out of reach. Nick Payton-Walsh, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. You can stream this show live or watch any CNN program on demand. In addition to getting original programming as well, anytime on any screen or mobile device, all you need is an all-access subscription.

46:58Scan the QR code on your screen or go to CNN.com slash watch to learn more. That's it for us. The news continues. Hope you have a great weekend. Source starts now. When you're building a company, you learn that trust is what closes deals. You may have the best product, but buyers won't sign without proof that your product is secure, especially if it has AI. Vanta gets you compliant fast with SOC 2, ISO 27001 and more and keeps you secure with continuous monitoring. Hyperbound, a YC-backed startup, used Vanta to unlock the Fortune 100 in under a year. Snowfire got audit ready in a month and closed a multi-million dollar deal.

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