Teen Gunman Kills 3 Kids, 1 Teacher in Oregon Elementary School

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0:53Still haven't started? Hey, better late than never. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply. This is CNN Breaking News. Good evening, I'm Laura Coates. We begin with the tragic breaking news out of Bend, Oregon, the site of another deadly school shooting in America. This time it was Silver Rail Elementary School, where three kids were shot and killed. A five-year-old child, an eight-year-old child, an 11-year-old child, a teacher, also killed. We're told a seven-year-old and another teacher in the hospital with critical injuries. Now, the shooter is dead. Police say he is a 16-year-old male.

1:39They say that he first opened fire at someone inside of a car before shooting his way through the school's doors. And the death toll may have been even worse had it not been for a heroic bystander who risked his own life and went after the gunman and stopped him. At 1.02 p.m., our first officers arrived on scene. Moments later, an officer reported that a suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him. Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead. I want to begin with our chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller.

2:21John, such a tragedy, and this happened in a matter of minutes. So what more do we know about how that shooter even got into the school? Well, this is what they're piecing together tonight, which is how did he get there? Did he drive? Was he dropped off? Did he walk? He's carrying a long gun. One of the remarkable things we noticed, Laura, is how mission oriented this shooter was. This is a 16 year old kid. He's been 16 just under two months. but as he approaches the parking lot he opens fire on people in a car so he hasn't even he hasn't even gotten to the school yet he's looking for available targets in the parking lot then when he finds the doors locked he shoots his way presumably through the glass and goes inside at this point someone who we believe is a father of a student at the school who has a firearm, follows him in and engages him in the hallway.

3:23But at this point, he has already shot three children, five, eight, and 11, one teacher, all of them killed, and wounded others when he's engaged by this armed individual. But as you point out, the call came in at 12.59 to 911. The first unit was on the scene at 1.02. By 1.03, they were reporting the shooter was already down due to this individual who they described, at least over the police radio, as a father. So very rapid, very mission-focused shooter. And had it not been for that person engaging him, given the number of people he had wounded in just under two minutes, really, this could have been so much worse.

4:12Not that it's not terrible enough on its own. The tragedy is unspeakable. The the lives lost. These are children. I will never, never as a mother, as a human being, never be able to wrap my mind around somebody doing something like this to anyone, let alone to children. I mean, my kids are just in middle school. I can't even imagine that this is so part of our everyday lives in this country. And I do have the same questions everyone else has, which is, are we any closer to learning any more about this gunman, this 16-year-old, and how he did get a gun, knowing that you can't get one legally at that age in that state?

4:57Well, so that's right. You know, the individual who shot him had to have a concealed carry permit. But already, where open carry was legal. but you have to be not 16. So what does that tell us? It doesn't tell us, but it certainly suggests that statistically in these cases with teenage shooters in schools, that most of those weapons, and we learn this over and over again, come from the home. And, you know, given your legal background and the cases you followed, think of the Crumbly case in Michigan where the parents were prosecuted and are serving time. Think of the Appalachia, Georgia case where the father was prosecuted and is serving time.

5:44This is no longer a matter of civil liability. This has turned into criminal liability. Indeed. And we do not know where this gun came from. We don't know whether the investigation is leading down that path or otherwise. We have so much more to uncover. John Miller, please stick with us and keep us informed. Joining us now is a local reporter who was at the scene of the shooting today. Brian Rathbone writes for the Bulletin in Bend, Oregon. Brian, you just happened to be near the school during your lunch break. Tell me at what point it became clear that something was devastatingly wrong. Well, there was just a ton of police cars at the intersection that I was at, which was, you know, a couple blocks from the school.

6:34so I decided like hey I should probably let the the news desk you know know hey there's a lot of police activity going on and then you know right as I opened kind of that chat I saw the news that there was you know an active shooter at the school I was only a couple blocks away so I was decided to head that way. Well tell me what you found when you got to the scene because you'd been talking to witnesses there what are they telling you about how things unfolded and I again I go back to the very quick pace that everything unfolded. Yeah, so I got there probably around one, like between like 125 and 130.

7:14So probably 20 minutes after the shooting took place. And like the school and the perimeter is lined with police cars. There's probably a hundred or so, you know, mostly family members who were just kind of, you know, waiting for their kid for any type of news. I know a lot of, you know, the parents that were, or not a lot of them, but some of them, you know, were able to kind of communicate via like their Apple watches. They were able to, you know, learn that their kids were safe that way. But a lot of them were just kind of just, just waiting and, you know, multiple, I talked to, you know, with multiple families and they had, you know, at least, you know, two kids and at, at least when I was talking to them, they knew one was safe, but didn't know how the second one was doing it in the school.

8:09But, you know, just hearing you describe this, my heart is literally racing, just trying to even put myself in the community, let alone the minds of those parents who are desperate. And unfortunately, so many of us have seen this play out across the country watching the news unfold, some in our own communities. And you have lived in this community for years. So at one point, just a block away from the school, how is the community reacting as a whole after this tragedy that I'm sure no one saw coming? Yeah, so this is like the actually the second kind of shooting that's taking place in Bend in the last five years.

8:53There was the Safeway shooting in August of 2022. But a school shooting, you never expect it to happen here. This is the area that the school is, a quiet part of town, a pretty new development that you never see it coming. I remember just kind of walking away from the scene after spending days. I was just thinking like, did this really just happen here? And it did. Brian Rathbun, thank you so much for giving us your insight. I want to turn to former Minneapolis police chief Madaria Ardondo and former FBI special agent Daniel Brunner. I mean, it's just, it's unspeakable that we all keep meeting this way, that we keep hearing about, experiencing, and children enduring this.

9:49I mean, my children have had school emergency drills since they were in daycare because that's where we are right now in this country, even to this day. And I want to bring you in first, Daniel, because you heard police say that this teenager shot at someone who was in a car and then shot his way through the school's doors. Tell me from your investigative mind what that tells you about his motivation and the planning. listen the the individual clearly had his his mission set he knew what he wanted to do and he encountered this vehicle whether that way from where he was dropped off where he was encountering this vehicle they were that vehicle possibly was in his way to finishing his mission um i believe in the in the in the texas shooting the same thing he encountered someone on his way to the school.

10:43So this individual was mission oriented. He was mission tasked to get into the school and this vehicle, whether there be having run across him, run near him, that vehicle had gotten his way. I mean, if that's the theory that's going right now. So this individual had his mission set to attack the school and get in any way possible. And when I hear mission, I assume planning chief, but we also don't know how this person got to the school. I haven't heard any details about a vehicle. He is 16 years old. I'm not sure if he had a license, if he was being driven, if he was dropped off. I don't know those details yet.

11:23We're all trying to learn them, but the police, we do know, responded so quickly. But it was a hero, a hero bystander who saw the gunman entered the school, thank God decided to go in and actually stopped him and neutralized the threat. But talk to me about the level of courage that it would take and how likely it is that this is someone who would have had training, let alone brave, brave courage. Yeah, Laura, so you can imagine when that radio tone alert of an active shooter went off through the then police department's radios. So that's going to, those officers are going to be certainly their level of heightened awareness.

12:04But then when it comes out that it's at Silver Rail Elementary School, even more so. Well, even for the three minutes that it took Chief Kranz's officers, they have to be commended for the rapid response that they gave. This community member that engaged, that person was just acting on hearing the sound of shots being fired and engage that 16-year-old and obviously eliminated the threat. But yes, it is courageous. It is heroic. And I also want to say, Laura, too, the school's website says that school would have been released today at 2.15 p.m. I'm only imagining, and John Miller talked about this earlier, the shooter engaged with a car in the parking lot right around this one o 'clock time.

12:48I can only imagine had that shooter been there as those doors were opening up and that flow of both students and staff were coming out there. So certainly courageous and heroic by the community member that engaged that shooter. But also, you know, to Chief Krantz and his police department, you know, to respond that quickly. And they trained for it all the time. But yeah, kudos to that community member. So well said. And you're right. The unimaginable. I have to wonder about the planning, whether he was aware of the timing of the school. Did he know that the building was actually locked? Had he had some familiarity with it?

13:23Do we know anything more about this person? I know both of you are thinking about what the investigation will do next because it is ongoing and it is active, and we're going to rely on all of your insight and experience. Gentlemen, thank you so much for being with me tonight. Unbelievable. Well, up next, we're going to turn to our special midterm coverage, and you can believe that with just 19 days to go, people are thinking about what they value most in this country, which includes their safety. And tonight, the president is nervous about losing Texas, that he is so nervous he's already figured out who he's going to blame.

13:58Plus... So when the facts are being investigated, let's say in January, if there's a Democratic-controlled Congress, will you comply and honor subpoenas? Of course. Of course I will. Did Vice President J.D. Vance run that answer by the president? We'll discuss that and more next.

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15:20And President Trump is already deciding if the Texas Senate race doesn't go his way. He's not pointing the finger at Democrats. He's going after outgoing Texas Senator John Cornyn and longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove. He claims it's them that are doing everything possible to sink his handpicked candidate, Ken Paxton. He accuses both of them of having, quote, ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career. And, well, I mean, having exactly been singing his praise lately. Of winning the Senate for Thune, easier or harder? Harder. How much harder? I mean, the poll, you saw the poll today.

16:04On a scale of what? One to ten. One to ten. If John Cornyn were the nominee, this race would be over. The president made a mistake, in my opinion, last week saying we've got the greatest economy in the history of the world and prices for groceries and gasoline and everything are coming down rapidly. That's not the experience of the American people. I'm sure I don't have to tell you or point out the irony to anyone here, right? Because remember, it was Trump himself who picked Paxton over Cornyn in the GOP primary.

16:38...might add years of corruption allegations. He was impeached by the Texas House, later acquitted by the Texas Senate. He denies any wrongdoing, but all that baggage, it has followed him on the campaign trail. That's why what I'm about to show you, it really caught my attention. It's a new Fox News poll, and it's got government corruption, government corruption as the number one issue that voters are concerned about. That's higher than inflation. That's higher than gas prices. It's higher than the Iran war. Eighty eight percent of all voters are either extremely or very concerned about government corruption.

17:22Let's bring in my panel, Republican strategist and consultant. General Association, Leslie Head, former communications director for the DNC, Mo Alethi. former domestic policy advisor to President Joe Biden, Neera Tanden, and former national spokesperson for Senator Ted Cruz's presidential campaign, Rick Tyler, and White House correspondent for The Hill, Julia Manchester. All right, since I messed up your title, I'm going to go for you. Is it you to know that corruption is number one? Not really. Look, it's a compounding problem, right? So corruption, Trump's been called corruption since 2016 before.

18:04It's never really worked. I think here it's a compounding problem because it doesn't replace the affordability issue. People didn't say, oh, now we don't care about affordability. It's all about corruption. It's not. But corruption is endemic of the problems that people feel like, many people, and I'll just point out, this is not a class warfare argument, but there are two economies. There are people who have capital. They've done quite well over the years. And there are people who pay rent who don't have capital. They're struggling. And Trump continues to ignore that. And so a lot of people feel like, you know, I work hard.

18:44I'm actually making more money than I ever have before. And I can't afford anything. And yet this government seems to be working for everybody but them. It is working for somebody, but it's not working for them. SHERYL MCCARTHY, Therefore, corruption they think is to blame. Because it, because, and it's, it feeds into a narrative that Trump has warned about, is maybe there is nothing illegal about him earning money while he's president, but it has never been done. It is unseemly that a president will go in and serve and make two billion dollars and then tell you, you're doing great. SHERYL MCCARTHY, Well, what about the plan that he, you know, obviously he's pointing the finger, you know that phrase, you point the finger out, three more point back at you.

19:27Well, he's pointing it. Did your wife say that? Well, hello, I'm your work wife today. But, you know, you think about it. He's pointing it at Cornyn. He's pointing it at Karl Rove. I mean, that's a little bit odd. Yeah. I mean, I heard that today. I was like, well, John Cornyn actually had the juice to defeat Ken Paxton. He probably would have done it in the primary. Right. Like John Cornyn isn't the problem. The problem is Ken Paxton. The problem is Donald Trump. Donald Trump is an anchor around his entire party right now. He promised people, he got elected because he promised people he was going to make their lives easier.

20:00He was going to put more money in their wallets. The only wallets that have gotten heavier are his, his families, and his cronies. People see it and they are beyond frustrated. So the Democrats look at this and, oh, I've got it. I've gotten in here in terms of pointing out a kind of infighting. I'm not going to call it a civil war among the GEOP, but the infighting that they often Republicans will point out about Democrats? Well, I think actually Donald Trump highlighting that Cornyn is not helpful really hurts Paxton because the whole issue in that race is whether the non-MAGA Republicans will actually consider voting for Tallarico.

20:37So the more you emphasize that there are people breaking away, Republicans breaking away from Ken Paxton, the more it's actually going to reaffirm, it kind of gives a permission structure to Republicans actually breaking and voting for Tallarico. And we know in almost every poll of that race, there are a group of Republicans, 9, 10, 11 percent of the electorate are Republicans willing to vote for him. But I think just to connect these two topics, Tallarico himself has made this deep connection between corruption and cost of living. Can Paxton's corruption, the fact that taxpayers of Texas have had to defend his lawsuits for his corruption, are actually raising costs for consumers?

21:21And the whole issue here is why do average people have to pay more while the president, Paxton, others do favors for the richest people and do favors for themselves? And I think you're seeing Democrats not only in Texas, but really across the country do this. John Ossoff has been doing this for much of the cycle. In Iowa, you have Ashley Hinson on the defense over the Epstein files with Josh Turek really trying to tie her there in terms of her vote. I think this is something that's going to continue to dog down Republicans, particularly as you see this slew of headlines from the Trump administration when it comes to alleged corruption just within the past week.

22:02Remember, there was that headline about Chris Lasavita and James Blair, President Trump's political advisers, going to Serbia to lobby for or advise a pro-Trump, pro-Putin, excuse me, party ahead of an election. You have the Kimberly Guilfoyle scandal. There's a laundry list of issues that makes it easy for Democrats to tie them to Republicans. By the way, the vice president, J.D. Vance, was asked about some of those very issues. It seems as though maybe he's trying to untie himself from the president. Listen. First of all, somebody's still on access to the White House. That's disgusting and despicable when they should suffer consequences.

22:38What I'm saying is that's an isolated. I want to make those judgments based on the facts and not based on a random news media report that I read. Fair enough. So when the facts are being investigated, let's say in January, if there's a Democratic controlled Congress, will you comply and honor subpoenas? Of course. Of course I will. look I mean we we follow the law I follow the law what do you hear I don't know we all probably heard that wait I mean at least I do what did you hear there so well I think first of all before we jump to conclusions about what this poll says you need to be really cautious about this what this says is that voters are concerned about corruption well hold on I'm talking about Senator J.D.

23:19Vance what do you hear I mean excuse me Vice President J.D. Vance oops what did you hear in terms of his He's trying to distance himself from the president when he's agreeing to abide by subpoenas that might be forthcoming. What did you hear there? No, I think he's saying that they'll go along with subpoenas just like they should. You know, I think being somebody that worked in Congress and watching the subpoena process happen on the other side, it still takes forever. There are a lot of discussions and lawyers that get involved in it. But I imagine that they will be in compliance. I hope they would be.

23:51And that's what he says there. You are very skeptical. I, I, I, I hope that they'll follow subpoenas as well. I tend to doubt. I mean, Donald Trump has sort of indicated he's not going to follow subpoenas. So I, I, but I hope spring, hope springs eternal. And perhaps in this moment, Donald Trump will actually adhere to the law and adhere to subpoenas. And I, I think that's wonderful because we'll have a lot more opportunity for accountability for just the type of corruption. we've been trying to clean the kind of counter here on the corruption that we've seen. I am curious. You're mentioning the polls.

24:29We were talking about the poll. Do you think that that is a galvanizing turnout interest? People will, because of corruption, that they will either lean in, or do you see that as more like you're both shaking your heads no. Why? Because of what Rick said earlier, which is that it's— You assume politicians are corrupt. Right, and they assume it to begin with. It's only if they feel like that is hitting their bottom line, if it's hitting them in their pocketbook and affecting their everyday life. That's the argument. That will galvanize. But that's the argument Democrats are making right now. And also, I would just note in the Fox News poll, there is a big difference between the parties on corruption.

25:05Basically, people see the Republican Party as much more corrupt than the Democratic Party in this poll. So I think there's a big difference. The poll didn't say that, actually. The poll was, what it said was, like, how do you value corruption here? do you think that this is a problem? And the answer is yes. Keep in mind that right now, there are hundreds of millions of dollars of ads up on TVs across the country, accusing Democrats of being corrupt, including in states like Maine and New Hampshire. So what this tells us is that corruption is the top of people's list right now, is something they're concerned about.

25:37But it doesn't necessarily indicate that all of those people think that it's about Republican corruption. No, but this poll and other polls do show that when voters are asked specifically which party is worse when it comes to corruption, Republicans are worse when it comes to corruption. Independents say it. The whole voters say it. That's right. There is a differential. And I think so much of it is connected, right, as we've all been saying. It's compounding. Well, but I think it's also connected for a lot of people. And when they say, look, there's two issues here, right? But the party in charge is the one who's going to be corrupt.

26:13It's not the party in the minority. Or the party that sells pardons. It's not. Look, it's not good news. There's an actual thing that's been happening with this. And even if they don't see it as connected, what they see is the priorities are out of whack. Right. They promised they were going to bring down our prices. Instead, they're doing all this other stuff. And that's a problem. Yeah, I think my question is, I think you may have been alluding to this before. Affordability is such a hot topic, a crisis right now. I'm wondering if the affordability crisis is somehow, I guess, making this feeling against corruption more cute.

26:49I think that's right. Well, no, I want you to stand by everyone because I want to hear from you out there. Text me your questions and comments, 818-972-7272. We're going to answer them later in the hour. Give me your first name, your city, your state. We know who we're talking to. I want you to weigh in and tell me what you think. Still ahead, AOC in Michigan campaigning for Abdul El-Sayed in that critical Senate race. Will it help or hurt? We'll debate it with one of AOC's allies next. Plus, the White House press secretary doing some damage control about her generous use of the word attorney and facing some tough questions, even on Fox.

27:25Why not just say I went to Pepperdine Law School and then took a different career path and I took the bar once and didn't pass it. Why get into this long, drawn out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney? Because I don't think most people see much of a distinction. Why didn't you just say, I never practiced law.

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28:22Well, the new White House Press Secretary, Katie Zachariah, is trying to clear the air about her credentials. After word got out she failed the bar exam after graduating law school, she had this to say. I knew I would be living in China, and the results of the bar were inconsequential. And I sat for it because I didn't want to have a withdrawal status. 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. Why get into this long drawn out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney?

28:59Because I don't think most people see much of a distinction. Why didn't you just say, I never practiced law? Well, Sean, when I moved back from the United States, I didn't retake the bar. I had four kids in six years. It was never my intent to go into the practice of law. Here's the thing. Since returning from China, she's also been on TV a lot and touting her credentials a lot. I went through law school, practiced law, lived in China. I was a corporate lawyer in Beijing, China for three years. I moved over to Beijing for three years and practiced law as a corporate lawyer. We were the outside counsel for the World Bank and the IFC.

29:40I mean, I am a lawyer and I'm a rigorous researcher. I'm a lawyer. I went to Pepperdine, Pepperdine Law. I practiced corporate law in Beijing, China. I went to law school. I graduated. I moved to China. I practiced law. As a lawyer, the procedural steps are absolutely critical to ensure that they get this right. My panel is back with me. And let me just be clear. I am a lawyer. I am a barred attorney in multiple states. I do not practice law. Obviously, I'm an anchor for CNN. But the idea that she is being attacked for her credentials is not, I don't think, the idea of being persnickety and the idea of tomato-tomato.

30:19though, it's the position that she's in and the level of credibility and trust that must be assumed in that particular arena as the White House press secretary that I think is causing people to question, if this is a slippery comment, what would I trust in the future? How do you see it? I mean, I think it's exactly that. She's supposed to be the White House press secretary. She's supposed to say things and people are supposed to, the public is supposed to believe what she's saying. Now, that's been a standard that not applies universally. But on your first day, basically, like, lying about your credentials.

30:56If you're going to lie about your own history, how are you going to know the facts about what's happening in the government? I think it's like, I mean, it's kind of bizarre. And by the way, she doesn't need to be a lawyer to be a White House press secretary. She shouldn't have lied. Look, I don't know that she lied or she didn't lie. It doesn't matter. What matters is she spent, what did we watch, just five, six clips of spending political capital explaining her resume and not explaining the president's policy positions. That's incompetence. So you have an incompetent press secretary. Now we know because she can't focus on representing the president and his policies.

31:36She's talking about whether she said she's on the board. To be fair, she's being asked about that. She doesn't have to. But my point is, is the incompetence associated with her or those who choose her? If she didn't do the interview, they would attack her for that, too. Her job is to represent the president and his policies, and she's done nothing of the sort. She's had the job for a week. Not even a week. Give her a chance. Well, look, we're two weeks from the midterm elections. To Rick's point, this is a time when she could be on TV talking to reporters, building relationships with reporters.

32:07And you know the reporters are going to pick up this. You should know the reporters. Yes. But instead, she's having to do these interviews talking about this. She is the story. And when you're a White House press secretary, you're not, you can't be the story. That's right. It's just such a, this is a departure, I think, in many ways from Caroline Levitt. Talking to Republicans, talking to Democrats even, whether you agree with what Caroline Levitt says or not. The thing I hear is game respects game. She's a very effective political communicator. There's a lot of questions about, you know, whether Katie Zachariah can get to that level.

32:42Well, let's go back. I want to hear a comment. But there is often never sort of perfect analogies of these sort of instances. But Kayleigh McEnany, who we remember from the first administration, she also a graduate of law school. Here's how she has handled this very question. Also not being a practicing attorney. Listen to what she has said. okay i'm curious as an attorney um as someone that went to school for this yeah you know i'm not a practicing attorney i did get my juris doctorate from harvard law school and what i learned there is look you zealously advocate for your client so she has drawn a distinction i think very um understanding the nuance that i think she was hoping would not be assigned to her the way that it's for Ms.

33:24Zachariah. What do you think? Look, she didn't have to go out there on the first day, right? And she said it. But she probably did have to go out on the first day, right? She was instructed to. She said that. She could have gone out there and just said, let me just introduce myself. I hear a few things I want to say. I'm going to come back soon. And then go study. Go get ready. Many press secretaries in the White House, Pentagon, State Department get the job. poke their heads out to wave hello to everybody and then bunker down for a couple of weeks. Those couple of weeks are really important so you can get up to speed.

34:02It's also really important when those couple of weeks are right before the midterm election. If she had not taken questions, we would be sitting here at this panel talking about how she's bad at her job for not taking questions. She was told to go out there. She answered three questions. She broke news. She did exactly as she was instructed to do. And now she is being lambasted in the press, I think partially because she's an attractive woman. But on the lawyer thing, who like, again, you pull 100 Americans and you ask them if somebody graduated from law school, if they're a lawyer, they would say yes.

34:36It sounds like she practiced law in Beijing. I don't know her entire resume and I haven't been able to personally track it down. But if you practice law in Beijing, you're a lawyer. She's not offering advice to clients here in the United States without a bar. She's on TV talking about things. Do you think she had a strong performance representing the president and his administration on her first day out? Do you think that was a strong performance? I think she's Brian knew. Do you know how hard it is to get up there and do something like that? Actually, I have briefed in that room. It is hard. The first time I did it, I managed to answer questions and not look at my, look at notes all the time.

35:10And I hope I did, I actually represented the administration well, but I think my performance was a little bit stronger than hers. And she's actually supposed to be the press secretary, not just a briefer. Go ahead. Well, no, no, I'm just I'm thinking there's a lot of questions not only about her performance, but also at the prep process, as we were talking about earlier today, she said in another interview with the conservative outlet that she received her prep, the briefing on Columbus Day. That was Monday. And then she briefed on Tuesday what she was offered the job on Friday, came out to Washington for the interview on Wednesday.

35:46I mean, it's a whirlwind. The White House, you know, pushed her out there and did this. So I think there's just as much, I guess, scrutiny against the prep process as it is, you know, towards her. I think it's an issue is not going to be resolved. I think there are going to be questions about whether she held herself out to be an attorney in a way that was violative of the laws. and some states say you cannot. I have no idea if she did, but I do not think that she's being criticized because she's an attractive woman. Otherwise, I'd be criticized all day long. Vanity Fair. Thank you so much, everyone.

36:16I'm done. Next, it's time to take your questions. Text us at 818-972-7272. We'll bring you the answers in just a moment.

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37:34Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is hoping some progressive power will push him over the hump. He's barn-torming the state with New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. El-Sayed hopes she can win over undecided voters during this two-day tour. But it's also a chance for the congresswoman to play kingmaker for the movement she did help energize. And even El-Sayed had to answer the question on everyone's mind. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a big draw to have with you today. Would you want to see her run for president in 2028? There's a lot of folks speculating that that's maybe why she's here today.

38:07So I'm trying to get through 2026. Let's get through 2026. We can talk about 2028 after that. Should ASU run for president? That's all the time we have. Not talking about 28 right now. Thank you. I get it.

38:20You could run, but that question is going to keep coming. My panel is back with me. Neera, first let me ask you this. The idea that he doesn't want to talk about, obviously, 2028, understandable, he's at 19 days until a very important race. But her presence there is obviously, you know, fueling discussions of whether she will run, whether she could be a kingmaker. Do you think that her presence is going to help or hurt him in Michigan? I think her presence definitely helps him. I think she motivates basically young people to come out. And it's important to get base Democrats to come out. And she's very good at that as well.

38:55But I also think, you know, she came out for El Saeed in the primary. She endorsed him in the primary. And I think it will, you know, it's important for her that he wins and is important to all of us. I hope he wins, too. But, you know, I think she wants to ensure he wins. And that's probably one of the reasons why she's been out. Bernie Sanders is going out. They put a lot of capital behind him. And, you know, as now have Whitmer and more establishment Democrats really trying to unite the party. But the base Democrats that she's going to bring out aren't the ones that are the problem right now.

39:31All that she being there does is remind those Democrat voters, the ones that think he's too liberal, he's too much of a socialist for them, that now he's like being draped in the socialist banner with AOC there. I think it hurts him very badly. Let's ask the voters who matters in these conversations. Let's go to the viewer questions that have come in already. We're going to go to Patrice from North Carolina who asked this question. Will the Republican Party ever get back to real conservative politics versus all in on Trump corruption? I want to wreck. What do you think? Yeah, it makes me sick when people are when people say, you know, this conservative or conservatives and they mean people who are anti-trade, anti-immigrant, all the things that conservatives used to stand for.

40:13And people do not know what conservatism stands for anymore. And the Republican Party has lost its way. It needs a council of Trent, to use a Catholic reference, to go back and say this is what we believe. Because they don't know what they believe now. They believe whatever Trump believes. Tariffs are terrible. I am amazed. I've heard so many Democrats now are anti-tariff. It's wonderful. Please, if you get into the majority, fix that for us, please. Yeah, so there it is. All right. Well, 19 days to go. I wonder how voters feel about that. Victor from Michigan asked this question. When both chambers of Congress turn blue, what does the panel think the chances are of the president being impeached, Mo?

40:54Well, I think the chances of the president being held accountable, being investigated, that there's going to be plenty of hearings to him and his administration. But the first thing Democrats got to do is tackle cost of living, right? It's got to be pushing back on the president's tariffs. It's got to be pushing back on the president's war. The two things that are driving up cost of living. So do the accountability stuff, but focus on those two things. All right. Chris from Virginia asked this question. Can Trump be held accountable once out of office? Who wants to take it? Go ahead. You know, look, I think it's quite possible.

41:32I'm not a legal expert in this area, but I think there certainly could be an effort. I think that would certainly make a lot of Democrats, a lot of liberals happy. But I think it depends on who's the president in 2028. Notice how you clarified your legal position. An anonymous viewer asked this question, if Trump believed Iran was such a threat to our security that it was worth a war, why didn't he run on it in 2024? Wesley? Well, I think the president has been really vocal about his concerns about Iran for quite some time. And keep in mind that intelligence changes, right? You can get different information at different times.

42:08He did not have access to the same level of intelligence back when he was a candidate before he became president. And the situation changed. And so he changed his mind on whether or not we needed to go to war with them. I mean, I don't think there was that much evidence, actually, that Iran had more access to nuclear weapons than they did, or to nuclear material even, than they did in 2024. I really, I actually think there isn't very much evidence of that at all. And in fact, it just seems like he decided for a variety of reasons without much evidence to start this war. I think the president saw what would happen in Venezuela.

42:45Yes, I agree with that. To be able to control the oil in the Western Hemisphere. And someone told him, Mr. President, if you take out Iran, we can control 75 % of the world's oil. And that would give him leverage in China, which he was meeting with them in eight days. But it didn't work out that way. Well, everyone, thank you for your insight. Thank you for your questions out there. And a quick programming note, I'll be hosting a special Sunday edition of Laura Codes Live midterms 2020 countdown to election night. That is Sunday night, 8 Eastern on CNN and streaming live with an all access subscription.

43:16Remember, you can stream my show live or watch on demand anytime with an all access subscription. Look at that QR code. Scan it. Go to CNN.com slash watch to learn more. And thanks for watching. I'm going to go on Instagram live right now and answer more of your questions. But here comes the story is with Alex Michelson. Share comfort and joy this holiday season at Tecova's. Our boots are handcrafted in over 200 meticulous steps and have a broken-in feel right out of the box with styles for everyone in the family. Our expert staff can help you pick the perfect gifts, and we have free in-store gift wrapping to help make the holiday season truly special.

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