Manhunt Underway For Suspect In Charlie Kirk’s Killing

25:33And within those emails, there are discussions that that, you know, that's taking place in which Maxwell, you get the sense that the, you know, the the heat is turning up on Maxwell. And she is discussing with Epstein, how they can discredit discredit ultimately Virginia Jiffrey. And she asked him for and this is in 2014, by the way, in an email, can you give me whatever your attorneys have the files on on Virginia? And basically, within those files, whereas it appears to be some sealed documents, confidential documents. And sometime later, a story pops up in the New York Daily News related to what was in those confidential files.

26:27Fascinating stuff, Jason Leopold of Bloomberg. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Great reporting. Thank you, Jake. Appreciate it. A big day for Wall Street. The Dow, the S &P and Nasdaq all closed with record highs last hour. So how does that square with the economic alarm bells we heard earlier today? We're going to try to make some sense of it next.

26:52Our Money Lead Now record highs today for all three major U.S. stock exchanges. The Dow rallied more than 600 points to close above 46 ,000 for the very first time. This came despite new economic red flags. Consumer prices rose at an annual rate of almost 3 % in August, as Donald Trump insists. President Trump insists that his tough tariff policy is not having any sort of impact. And while we see a slowdown in job hirings, Wall Street veteran Art Hogan of B. Reilly Wealth joins us now. Thanks so much for joining us, Art. So JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said yesterday he isn't sure if the economy is just slowing or if it's going into a recession.

27:29What do you think? Well, I will tell you this. Jamie Dimon has done a pretty good job of always being the person that is the most concerned about economic data and the pace of economic growth. He runs the largest of the Money Center Bank. So that's kind of his role to take on that sort of cautious tone. So he's been pretty consistent with that. But I think if you look at J.P. Morgan's results and the fact that they had record results and the fact that they're seeing very little credit card default at the bank, as are the other money set of banks like Bank of America and Citibank and Wells Fargo.

28:03So I think that there is a reason to be cautious. I just don't think that we're on the on the edge of a cliff here. I just think we've seen a slowdown in both jobs creation. and certainly a consumer that is becoming very choiceful. It seems if you go through the inflation report today, it seems like there are Trump policies, specifically tariffs, written all over it. The cost to repair your car is up a record 5 % in a month because of tariffs on auto parts. Coffee prices up because of tariffs on coffee from Brazil. How can the administration continue to claim that tariffs aren't raising prices?

28:39I'm not sure how the administration can continue to make that claim. What I will tell you about the report, and I think you're right, if you look at core goods that are imported, there's certainly upward pressure on inflation. And that 2.9 percent on the headline and 3.1 percent on the core are nowhere close to what the Fed would like to see for their inflation target. But the offset to that has been a bit of a pullback in energy prices and certainly a pullback in shelter costs. So when you look at the basket of goods, it's not accelerating as much as the core goods are accelerating. So you're right to highlight those things that are clearly tariff influenced.

29:14Core goods that we import are certainly going up. The way the Fed will likely look at this and say, this is going to be a one time event. These core good prices are going to go up by whatever that amount is that the trade war finally settles at. And that's in limbo right now. And there's nothing monetary policy can do about that one time price increase. But at the same time, their other mandate for full employment is clearly being challenged right now with the slowdown in jobs creation. The report on first time claims for jobless benefits came in at an almost four year high after hiring came to something of a standstill in the summer.

29:46Why do you think employers are so concerned about hiring right now? Yeah, so employers are in the same place that you and I are about trade and tariffs and what that will mean for the economy. So I think employers look at this and they've been very slow to fire, but very slow to hire. And that's why we're seeing the average nonfarm payroll number of jobs creation on a monthly basis has gone from something like 75 ,000 a month down to 30 ,000 a month. We don't know how many jobs we need to create to keep unemployment in check, but unemployment has moved up from 3.9 percent to 4.3 percent over the course of the last year.

30:19I would tell you, I think if I'm running a company right now and there is still unknowns about where we land on this trade war highway and what the actual rules of the road will be, I'm still going to pull back and not make big decisions about creating new jobs. I think once that clears, whenever that happens to be, if it gets out of the courts through the month of October or if the administration has to go to plan B on this, that uncertainty is going to keep us from creating a lot of jobs on a monthly basis. Fascinating. Art Hogan, thanks so much. Appreciate it. From sorrow to anger, the wide reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

30:51My next guest has an interesting take on Kirk's influence in American politics. Stay with us. In our politics lead, a bit of what we heard from prominent voices in conservative media reacting to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The most important voices that we've had in my lifetime on the right. We're going to pick up that bloodstained microphone where Charlie left it. But we have to have steely resolve, right? Charlie Kirk's a casualty of war. We're in this country. We are. Those were Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro, and Steve Bannon, of course. Here now, joining us, New York Times staff writer Robert Draper, who spent a lot of time with Charlie Kirk before publishing an in-depth profile on him earlier this year, that I highly recommend for those out there who maybe don't understand why there is such an outpouring from the Republican Party.

31:47In your profile, Robert, first of all, thanks for being here. I appreciate it. And I know it's going to be a rough day. Anytime anybody that you spend a lot of time with gets assassinated, it's horrible. In your profile, you know Kirk wasn't just interested in getting conservative leaders elected. He wanted to transform culture. That's how the peace ends. That's right. And he saw young Americans as key to doing that. Tell me why you think his death is so significant. Sure. I mean, I think, for one thing, his youth is key. If he was 57 years old or something and it achieved what he had achieved, it would be one thing.

32:18But he, at the tender age of 31, was a leading conservative influencer, had to be in the top three or four, was a very, very important campaign organizer, particularly on campuses. I think that you can make the argument, Kirk certainly did, that his organization was instrumental in helping to deliver the youth vote in Wisconsin, for example, and thus allowing Trump to win that. But on top of that, he was like a key and discreet inside advisor. Again, surprising for someone his age, who the entire Trump family felt very close to, beginning with Don Jr., who hired him in 2016 to be his personal assistant, but extending ultimately to the president, who I think really viewed him as a kind of adopted son.

33:04You just heard Steve Bannon say that Charlie Kirk was a, quote, casualty of war. On today's New York Times podcast, The Daily, you said, quote, Kirk was, in a sense, killed in the line of duty, unquote. How do you see his death influencing the conservative movement? Because, boy, there are a lot of people in the conservative movement not only hurt, not only upset, but really angry. And I'm not saying they shouldn't be, but you really just see it tangibly. They're very mad. I think you're right, Jake, and I don't think there's any reason. reason, there's nothing that would indicate to us that the conservative movement will cool its passions as a result of this assassination.

33:44I don't think that this is going to stir a kind of unifying theme. To the extent that there's any unity, it will be unity against the left. And we have seen, you know, really from the moment his assassination was confirmed, people using third person plural, they, they did this to Charlie Kirk in the way that we heard frequently after the assassination attempt on Trump and Butler. So they're viewing this, the conservatives are, as an us versus them moment. And lastly, Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez of Texas posted, quote, I signed on to a letter to Speaker Johnson calling for a statue to be put up in our nation's Capitol honoring Charlie's contributions to our great nation.

34:21Was he really that that influential statue in Capitol Hill? I mean, I do think that And this kind of almost hyperbolic, if well-intentioned gesture, is indicative of the times we're in, you know, in the sort of attention economy where people are always outdoing each other, whether it's to praise or to condemn. I have no doubt, again, that Gonzalez means what he says about this. But no, I mean, Rush Limbaugh, who Kirk modeled himself after, got the Presidential Medal of Freedom while he was alive. And Charlie, it sounds like we'll get it posthumously. He didn't get a statue. Yeah, Robert Draper, great stuff.

34:55And I do recommend people go back and read his piece, not just today, but his piece back in February, I think it was, in the New York Times magazine. President Trump just announced that he is going to posthumously award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as you just heard Robert say. He was quick to point blame for Kirk's murder. Here's part of a video message the White House released last night. For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today.

35:33And it must stop right now. And my panel is here. T.W., your response to that, to what you just heard from President Trump? Yeah, I think it's the way a lot of conservatives feel. This is a very scary time in our nation's history. And I saw something online on Twitter, ignoring all the horrible stuff I did see, which said they couldn't beat him in a debate, so they shot him. And that really stuck with me. I was reminded of a time when I studied in London, and along my jogging route was Speaker's Corner of Hyde Park. And I always thought it was very quaint and antiquated that people would gather there and talk amongst themselves and talk about obscure policies or movements.

36:21but it's what our founders envisioned changed to look like and it's what Charlie Kirk did. He saw on campuses across America conservative voices being stifled and instead of looking at anger and violence and inciting mobs and destruction and shutting things down, with a smile on his face and a sign that said, prove me wrong, he reached out to people who he disagreed with and looked for dialogue and debate. And isn't that what we want? Isn't that what we want in change movements and political leaders? Because I think it's what I want. And I think it's what most of Americans want. Karen? So I think there's a couple of things.

37:00I think in this moment, we should not let ourselves off the hook. And there's a tendency to say this isn't who we are. I think we have to say this is who we are. The American people, you mean? Yes. This is political violence against the left and the right. Well, but it's not who we have to be. And that's what this moment should be about. If we decide as America that this is not who we have to be, then I don't care if you're left or right. What matters is political. There's no place for political violence. Period. Full stop. You know, you don't have to have agreed with Charlie Kirk or been a fan of his to say two kids woke up today without a dad.

37:36Yeah. And that's wrong. And I wish that I was not surprised by the president's remarks. I was disappointed as an American because I wish that there had been more of a call to let's come together and say this is wrong. I think we saw a lot of people on the left and the right trying to do that with their platforms. And I think anybody, you know, you never know who's listening or watching to what you say. And we have a responsibility in moments like this. I mean, I'm angry, too. And, you know, and I, you know, but these statements, they push you into your corners. And this is a moment we've got to try to not get in our corners and say, we just can't stand for this.

38:16So when the president spoke, he did not mention any examples of political violence against progressives or Democrats. We should note that there has been. I mean, in June, a gunman shot and killed a Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker and her husband and had a hit list of 45 other Democrats. In April, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's residence was set on fire. The suspect said he planned to beat the governor with a hammer. But instead of mentioning them, President Trump said this.

39:09That's true, but there's also been radical right political violence. And doesn't it seem to you at Alt-TW that we should be just condemning it all? Because it's all horrible, and I'm not letting anybody off the hook. All political violence is wrong. Charlie Kirk said it right when he said, when we stop talking to each other, that's when violence happens. Be the change you want to see in the world. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me. Each one of us has a cross to bear in this, and we ought to take that seriously. I agree. Amen to that. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. And our national lead today marks 24 years since the September 11th terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3 ,000 innocent Americans.

39:45Attacks that to this day families fight to get accountability for. To all those who lost loved ones on that day or from complications since then, may your loved one's memory be a blessing. A new documentary follows the untold story of two steamfitters who, like many brave New Yorkers, risked their own lives to aid their fellow Americans in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. Here's a little clip from five days on the pile. We had already discussed we were going to go in the next day, no matter what. We were going. You only have 72 hours to survive without water. We knew we could help them. Cutting steel, whatever.

40:26Whatever they needed. Chris Wagner and Ralph Redd Anderson saw firsthand the destruction wrought in lower Manhattan and the resolve of a community to come together and help each other in a time of need. A decision that had a resounding impact on their lives, both emotionally and physically. And joining me now is 9-11 volunteer responder Chris Wagner. Chris, you mentioned several times where you and Red skip lines and sneak your way back into the pile. What drove you to go to such lengths to go back every day? uh we just wanted to help and it was uh and the first two days it was chaotic and then they wanted you to go and register and by the time you registered it would be 10 o 'clock 11 o 'clock in the morning so we would just go down there and just find we knew where to go And we found our way through the financial center and we went through the window to climb out onto the pile.

41:32You talk about these lines of volunteers who would remove bodies from the pile. And Red mentions how he saw people leave his line because they couldn't take what they were seeing. Why do you think you were able to push through? Just keep your head down and just get the job done. You know, we had to cut in torches, cutting the steel to get the bodies out. Just shut your mind down and get it done. And you were constantly, repeatedly assured by the government that the air was perfectly safe to breathe. We know now, of course, that was not the case. If you had been told that there were potentially dangerous chemicals in the air, would you have still gone to help?

42:17Yes. why

42:26just you know we just felt they needed the help and they did need the help in the first few days like I said very chaotic as you can imagine so we just went in went to work but yes to answer your question had I known I still would have went in Amazing. In the film, you go back to ground zero for the first time in 20 years. What was it like to go back there after all this time? It's very powerful because now you're seeing where you made your way in, which, of course, now is completely rebuilt. And I actually got a little confused as to where we entered at first. Yeah, I had never gone back until you see on the documentary that day.

43:14Chris Wagner, thank you so much for talking to us today. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for having me. And welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. The breaking news this hour, Manhunt. The Manhunt is on for Charlie Kirk's assassin. Still very much active right now, the Manhunt. We're tracking the latest developments as authorities have released photographs of a person of interest. Plus, at least two Colorado students injured in yet another school shooting, the 47th in America this year. Colorado Governor Jared Polis joins the lead for the latest on that investigation. Also, President Trump moments ago was asked what he thought about the Russian drones that ended up in Poland this week.

43:53It could have been a mistake. Could have been a mistake. But regardless, I'm not happy about anything having to do with that whole situation. We will discuss the emergency meeting happening this week. Plus, the newest member of Congress joins the lead to discuss his first move in Congress that could impact the potential release of the Epstein files.

44:17The lead tonight, a manhunt still underway for the shooter who assassinated right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk yesterday afternoon before a campus crowd in Utah. Kirk leaving behind a widow and two children. Today, the FBI released the first photos of a person of interest and offered a$100 ,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. CNN's Nick Watt is in Utah following the latest developments. This man, now the focus of a manhunt that's nearly 28 hours old. The FBI is asking for the public's help identifying this person of interest. He appears to be a college-age male, according to investigators.

44:56The suspect blended in well with the college institution. Among the 3 ,000 or so who came to hear Charlie Kirk speak. Investigators have also collected footwear impression, a palm print and forearm imprints for analysis. Investigators say the suspect arrived on campus 11.52 a.m. local time Wednesday, made his way through stairwells, across a roof to the shooting location believed to be on top of this building. about a 150-yard shot to where Kirk was sitting. He was well-guarded against, you know, someone running up with a knife or trying to fight him personally. He was well-guarded from that sense.

45:41But security in the general area, it was just a normal campus day. But not against that one fatal shot fired at around 12.20 local time. Cue chaos. After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he jumped off of the building and fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood. The alleged weapon, along with some ammunition, was found in a wooded area near campus. CNN has learned with initials and phrases related to cultural issues scrawled on. The FBI laboratory will be analyzing this weapon. Along the suspect's escape route, officials have gathered eyewitness testimony and doorbell camera footage.

46:28We're doing everything we can to find him and we're not sure how far he has gone yet. We are and will continue to work nonstop until we find the person that has committed this heinous crime and find out why they did it.

46:46So about three hours ago, a press conference was postponed because of, quote, rapid developments in the case. We are still waiting to hear what they are. Kash Patel, director of the FBI, is apparently on his way here. And J.D. Vance, the vice president, is here. He will be flying on Air Force Two to Phoenix, Arizona with Charlie Kirk's body and his young family. Jake. Leaving behind a widow, Erica, and two very young children, a little girl and a little boy. Nick Watt in Utah, thank you. Let's bring in my experts as we continue to track the latest in this manhunt for this vicious killer, CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez and retired FBI special agent Daniel Brunner.

47:24Evan, officials were supposed to provide an update this afternoon. That was canceled, as Nick noted, due to rapid developments in the case. What have you learned about what's happening on the ground right now in this investigation? Yeah, Jake, it's still unexplained really what those rapid developments are. It's clear that they do not have a suspect. They don't have an arrest. It doesn't appear that they're very close because they've got this$100 ,000 reward. They've also just invited the U.S. Marshals to join this manhunt. Again, that indicates that they really need a lot more help to try to get this investigation to where they can at least try to find this person.

48:04And again, you know, the importance here is that we've had, what, 28 hours since the shooting. And, you know, the investigators are still now asking the public to provide tips based on those photographs, which is taken from some surveillance video. We do know that the FBI director and the deputy FBI director are on their way there, which is an indicator, Jake, of how important this investigation is to this administration. So, Daniel, obviously there are people out there who can look at these photographs of this person of interest and they know who this is. Whoever he is, he's only he's been on the run for just over a day, 24 hours, over 24 hours, but 28 hours, as Evan said.

48:43What kind of slip ups, what kind of mistakes is law enforcement likely watching for that could help catch him? that could help catch him. Well, there's a lot of different things that law enforcement is doing in this investigation to hopefully push him to make a mistake. And that's exactly what you said, is what they're hoping that he makes a mistake. He gets tired, he gets hungry. If he hasn't planned, or if he's only thought about the next 24 hours after the shooting, he clearly showed a propensity to prepare for this. He knew how to get to the roof. He knew the different access routes. He knew how to slip out of the crowds.

49:18so he was prepared and he took one shot to me that indicates very clear and calm that he was going to take the shot he wasn't multiple shooting like other mass shootings we've seen so for me i think that he has definitely planned this now how far out he's planned this well now is it an eric rudolph where he was prepared to go into the woods and hide for months it's possible this type of rifle a bolt action rifle could be a hunting rifle so if he has experience in the in the woods he He could be hiding in the woods for months. If not, he could be, he really could be anywhere at this point with 24 hours head start.

49:52He could be at the border. He could be in New York. He could be anywhere. How do officials have to shift techniques and technology as the search develops? If, for example, the person acquires a vehicle or if you learn that they're not working alone. Well, that's exactly what it is, is trying to figure out and trying to have multiple people looking out in their eyes. So pushing out this photograph increases. It does two things. One, it multiplies exponentially the number of eyes that are looking out into a neighborhood, that are looking out and seeing somebody who's suspicious. Most likely, he's probably changed his clothes and changed his appearance, possibly, to get himself a little bit more head start.

50:37But also, it creates the pressure upon him that there's more people looking for him. Not only Is he worried about law enforcement? Now he has to worry about the person that he's walking past down the road. Are they looking at him suspiciously? That's going to cause him anxiety. That's going to cause him to make a mistake, trip up and say something or look in the wrong direction. And all it takes is one tip, one phone call. And Evan, officials have discovered the rifle and ammunition used in the murder of Charlie Kirk. and messages were apparently written or etched on the ammunition and the rifle.

51:13What have they been able to glean about the shooter from that, if anything? Well, that's part of the problem, Jake, because we don't have a suspect. We don't have more information. The ATF, which put out a bulletin overnight, that describes some of the markings, some of the engravings that they believe were there. And they were interpreting some of those. For instance, they said that they interpreted, the analysts who looked at it, interpreted some of the markings to be expressing transgender and anti-fascist ideology. Now, I've talked to law enforcement officials about this, and they said they're not sure whether those interpretations that were made on the spot, whether those are accurate.

51:50There's still some time for it to be analyzed in the lab. One of the things they did is they looked at a series of arrows, and because of that, They Googled it, essentially, and they saw some references to transgender, the transgender community. They have no idea whether that is actually what the intent here was, what's the motive, has anything to do with this, or if this person was simply trolling, you know, the investigators and try to provide false clues. Again, because we don't have an ID on someone who they are focused on, they simply do not know at this point. And so that's really at this point just raw information that investigators are holding on to until they know more.

52:35And Daniel, Evan reported separately that three former senior FBI officials are suing the FBI director, Kash Patel, and the Trump administration, alleging that their firings were part of a White House-directed purge driven by social media bullying from MAGA loyalists. And this report is relevant. I'm bringing it up because it says that it portrays, rather, Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino as particularly concerned about their social media profiles. And I raise this because yesterday, FBI Director Patel tweeted that a suspect had been taken into custody. This was before local officials provided their update.

53:10And then Patel tweeted that the suspect had been released. It led to a lot of confusion. What do you make of Patel's performance in this investigation so far? Well, I think Director Patel's getting onto social media as quickly as possible was not the right move. And clearly the result is, you know, the mistake that he has to, you know, retract it that this person was in custody. There are probably seven or eight different leaders between the case agents on the streets and the director of the FBI. The case agents are really the ones that are really working this, and they're the ones that have the best knowledge.

53:47and most likely their supervisors and their chain of command in the Salt Lake Division know really what's going on. And by the time it gets to the director, it could be hours after a lead or an investigationary is conducted. So for the director of the FBI to get onto Twitter and to tweet that a suspect is in custody, I think was ill-advised. That's why there's a public affairs office. The director of the FBI has never done that before. We're in a new age. I understand that we're on social media, but there are people who are trained to do this. The street agents are the ones who are conducting the investigation, and they're the ones in the best position, and they're funneling all that intelligence to the mobile command center and the command center that's in the Salt Lake division right now.

54:30Yeah, it was certainly confusing. Evan Perez and Daniel Brunner, thanks to both of you. Charlie Kirk's widow, Erica, and their two children, young children, a daughter and a son, they were actually in attendance at the event in Utah where he was shot and killed. We have new details about how both President Trump and Vice President Vance are working to try to support the Kirk family. Plus, what exactly are the Russians up to? Some of its drones turned up in the skies over Poland, a NATO country. That's ahead.

55:06And we're back with our politics lead while we continue to track the manhunt for the person of interest in the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. Top Republicans are mourning Charlie Kirk today, among them close ally and friend, Vice President J.D. Vance, who flew to Utah to be with Kirk's family. Sources say Kirk's remains will be flown from Utah to his home in Phoenix, Arizona on Air Force Two. Kirk leaves behind a widow, Erica, and two very young children. Let's bring in CNN Chief White House Correspondent, Caitlin Collins. Caitlin, what do we know about how this all came about for Vice President Vance to go to Utah to help the family and help bring his remains back home to Arizona.

55:44He was actually scheduled to do some 9-11 events today, but the vice president's team canceled that because obviously they felt that this took priority just in terms of being able to go there and to meet with Charlie Kirk's family and in Utah, of course, where he was assassinated yesterday. And not only that, but to take the family and his remains and the casket back to Arizona where he lived with his family. And so the vice president touched down in Utah earlier And this is what we are told is expected to be the plan for the next few hours with Air Force Two. And really, Jake, it's just a sign of reverence for Charlie Kirk and also just signifies the impact of the relationship that J.D.

56:23Vance and Charlie Kirk had. He posted an incredibly lengthy tribute to Charlie Kirk just a few hours ago and was basically detailing how they met, the conversations that they had when he was running for the Senate race in Ohio, back when he was a complete newcomer on the political scene, and detailed his relationship with Charlie Kirk and how he said just how instrumental he was and posted a tribute to him about the work that he did. And he said he exemplified a foundational virtue of our republic, the willingness to speak openly and debate ideas. So they're just heralding what was it, you know, the kind of the cornerstone of something that Charlie Kirk did, which was debate people, even if they strongly disagree with his own opinions.

57:04And so that was something that the vice president was paying tribute to. And Jake, obviously, you should expect to see more of this from the administration. Since the president announced earlier he's going to award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and also that he does plan to attend Charlie Kirk's funeral when it happens. And Caitlin, we also heard from President Trump briefly today talking personally about Charlie Kirk. What did he have to say? Yeah, we saw him leaving the Pentagon earlier after that 9-11 ceremony, and he told us that he planned to speak with Charlie Kirk's family this afternoon.

57:33That conversation has now happened. And he was just speaking to reporters as he was leaving the White House to head here to New York City. And this is what he had to say about Charlie Kirk. He was an advocate of nonviolence. That's the way I'd like to see people respond. I spoke to Erica, his wife, and we had a long talk and she's devastated. She is absolutely devastated, as you can imagine. He's referencing Charlie Kirk's widow there and the lengthy conversation that I'm told that they had earlier this afternoon. But, Jake, I also think what he said there at the beginning was important because he was asked, what is his message to supporters, to his supporters, about what they should do in the wake of Charlie Kirk's death?

58:14And talked about Charlie Kirk's own advocacy for nonviolence and instead debating your ideas. And the president himself said he believes that nonviolence is the best response. in response to all of this. Caitlin Collins, thanks so much. And don't miss Caitlin on her show, The Source with Caitlin Collins. That's tonight and every weeknight at 9 Eastern, only here on CNN. Sources say the United Nations Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow after NATO jets scrambled to shoot down Russian drones that flew over NATO member Poland this week. That's next.

58:52in our world lead today a source tells cnn that the united nations security council is expected to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss this week's russian drone incursion into poland dozens of drones crossed into poland tuesday night into wednesday nato fighter jets scrambled and shot some of them down a total of 16 were found scattered across poland yesterday russia's defense Ministry said in a statement that it carried out a strike against Ukraine that night, but, quote, no targets on the territory of Poland were planned for destruction, unquote. By the way, we're not talking about little baby drones like you can buy online.

59:26We're talking about big ones like the one you're looking at in this footage. Once in Iran, they can do significant damage. Let's get some insights now from former Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk. Brett, thanks for joining us. So Polish officials say that the sheer number of drones made it clear that this was a deliberate act by Russia. And that was echoed by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy today, who's comparing the drone incursion to Russia's annexation of Crimea. What do you think the Russians are up to here? If I had to speculate, if you look on a map, it's hard to suggest that that was a mistake.

1:00:00If I had to speculate, I think they're kind of probing, testing how NATO responds. Look, Jake, this is a completely unprecedented event, but unfortunately, I don't think it's a first. I think this drone warfare is the wave of the future, no pun intended. And if I look at NATO's response, it's good there was a response. You don't wake up every morning seeing the Dutch defense minister saying our F-35s were in the sky downing Russian drones in NATO airspace. This is totally unprecedented. At the same time, to use F-35s most expensive air platform in the world to take down these really Iranian drones that Russia produces, very cheap, very easy to make, I think that's not the most cost-effective way to do that.

1:00:42So I know Poland has triggered Article IV of the Atlantic Charter, meaning we need immediate consultations. And those consultations should really be focused on the defenses in the Eastern Bank of NATO against drones. You can't rely just on F-35s, electronic warfare, all sorts of defensive systems that I know have been in development, that have been deployed. But I think this event, I think Russia is probably probing. But NATO has a lot of work to do to really harden those defenses. Here in D.C. today, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators pushed for passage of a bill adding Russia to the list of state sponsors of terrorism under U.S.

1:01:19law, specifically for kidnapping Ukrainian children and taking them into Russia. Take a listen to Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama. It is clear that Putin will never do the right thing without being forced to. And now is time to make that happen. Lawmakers also are demanding a vote on imposing more sanctions on Russia. Do you think either of those actions would make a difference in Vladimir Putin's behavior? Well, Jake, they're not decisive, but the senator is right. I think, look, where this is heading, just as an analyst, I think this war is heading into an escalation phase through the winter.

1:01:58I think Putin very clearly, he is targeting the electricity grid inside Ukraine. He is trying to make sure that the winter months in Ukraine will be unbearable. The Biden administration spent a lot of time working to harden those electricity grids to make sure the heat can stay on in the heating season. Putin is going after it. There have been 3 ,000 attacks since the spring directed against that electricity and heating structure inside Ukraine. So this is going to continue. The only way, the only way for diplomacy to succeed, you need leverage. Diplomacy without leverage, I've said before, is like music without instruments.

1:02:35And that means economic sanctions. That means military support for Ukraine. That is just the course we're on, unless we just want Putin to continue this for as long as he sees fit and he is all in. So, yeah, I think the senator's right. That's not a decisive action. You need sanctions. You need military support for Ukraine. You need coordination with allies to make clear to Putin that this is not cost-free for you. And, of course, the Russians are suffering. They've taken almost a million military casualties. Their economy's in rough shape. But you've got to keep the pressure on if you want the president's policy to succeed.

1:03:08And we all should. We want this war to end. We want diplomacy to work. But you have to back up the diplomacy with with leverage. Just put this in the context of the Alaska summit, which was August 15th. It is obviously September 11th. Today, we're approaching the one month anniversary. industry, does Putin's actions when it comes to drones in Poland indicate that that summit was a failure? JOHN YANG, President, President of the United States, I don't want to call it one or the other. I would say, you know, we have... President Trump likes to say this war never would have started if he was president in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.

1:03:43Impossible to prove or disprove that. I think that claim is probably dubious. But one thing we know is a fact. The three largest attacks of this entire war have happened this year, between June and August of this year. The largest attack was just two weeks ago. So Putin has escalated, and he's escalated since the summit. Look, the summit had some merit in distilling the issues you need to get to an agreement. What do you need? You need agreement of land swaps along that line of contact in eastern Ukraine, coupled with, this is key, coupled with security guarantees for Ukraine, because they're not going to be able to give up territory without a security guarantee to ensure that Putin is not just reloading to launch another invasion over the coming years.

1:04:24Those are the two issues. There's been work since the summits on what a security guarantee can look like. The Europeans are working with us on that. That has to be sharpened up. But in the meantime, I go back to my first point. Without leverage here, demonstrating to Putin that this is not cost-free for you, economic pressure is going to increase. There's bipartisan support in Congress for this. And I just the White House has to has to put those tools in the kit. Otherwise, diplomacy is going to continue to flail. Brett McGurk, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it, sir. Thanks, Jake.

1:04:54Just one more signature. One more signature is needed on a Republican congressman's petition that would force a full House vote to release all of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The newest member of Congress just signed his name to it. He'll join us next.

1:05:16It's a breaking news for you and our world lead. Brazil's Supreme Court just sentenced the country's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, to 27 years, three months in prison. This after convicting him on several charges, including attempting to overturn Brazil's 2022 election and trying to abolish the country's democratic order by force. That coup attempt went down January 8th, 2023, with protests that looked quite a bit like the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol back in 2021. In our politics lead, Speaker Mike Johnson's narrow Republican majority in the House just got a little narrower.

1:05:52Yesterday, Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw of Virginia was sworn in just the day after winning Tuesday's special election by 50 points over his Republican challenger. It's the district once held by the late Congressman Jerry Connolly. And now Speaker Johnson can only lose two Republicans on a party line vote. Joining us now is newly sworn in Congressman James Walkinshaw of Virginia. Thanks so much for being here. Congratulations. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Your Democrats don't have a lot of good news these days. You are one of you overperformed. It wasn't just that you won in a relatively safe district.

1:06:22You overperformed how Democrats normally do. That's right. I think Democrats have had some good news in special elections around the country. and ours is the latest example of that. We ran about 16 points ahead of Vice President Harris in the same district a few months ago in 2024. Just moments before you were sworn in, shouting erupted on the House floor during a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk. How are you approaching this moment of extreme polarization in Congress? It was a tense day on the floor yesterday. Emotions were running very high. The speaker asked for a moment of silence and there was some shouting about the possibility of a spoken prayer.

1:07:02And I appreciate the way Speaker Johnson handled it. And I was sworn in shortly thereafter and gave a floor speech where I laid out the concerns that I have with the Trump agenda and the congressional Republican agenda and their impacts on my district in Northern Virginia. So it's a hard time. I think it is really important for all of us to do what we can to lower the temperature right now. The worst thing that we can do is be blaming one side or the other politically, given the violence that we've seen. And one of your first official acts was to sign this discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

1:07:36You were the 217th signature. Tom Massey, the Republican from Kentucky whose discharge petition this is, only needs one more signature. Are you guys going to get it? I pledged during the campaign that I would sign the petition on day one. I had hoped, especially after hearing from the survivors over the last week, that another one of my Republican colleagues would sign it before I was sworn in. Only four have, I think. That's right, four have. I was hoping another would before I was sworn in. I was hoping to be 218. I just don't understand how you can listen to what those survivors said, hear their pleas, and not sign that petition to give the American people the full story of what happened with Jeffrey Epstein.

1:08:19Well, I think the answer is that the Trump White House has said that they would view it as a, quote, hostile act if Republicans do join the petition. That's right. Look, I think there's one of two things happening here with respect to Donald Trump. Either one, he was lying to his supporters for years about the contents of the file when he said there were deep, dark secrets about powerful people in America in those files. That's one option. The other option is There's something in there he really doesn't want the American people to see. And we're getting this trickle and trickle of information coming out of it, the strange birthday card, the strange drawing.

1:08:55American people want to know what else is in those files and what does Donald Trump have to do with it. We should just note, for fairness sake, President Trump denies that he drew that picture and signed that birthday card, whether or not you believe him. Stay with us, Congressman. Let's bring in the rest of our panel. There's a lot of reaction to the murder of Charlie Kirk on Capitol Hill today. I want you to take a listen to what two senators, a Democrat and Republican, had to say. We are at a precipice in this country when public discourse will no longer be possible, when public appearances will be reduced because of the legitimate fear that a single crazy person can imperil public officials.

1:09:43And this has already been a concern, considering what happened up in Minnesota. And so I think you're going to see some changes. I think it's undeniable now that we've got to beef up security on every member. So that's both Senator Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Senator Mullen, a Republican from Oklahoma, talking about how horrible things are in terms of security, in terms of politicians being afraid to even speak. What do you think? I think it sets a precedent here for what members of Congress have already been experiencing. We saw that in the January 6th committee, members were being targeted and didn't have the means to protect themselves necessarily.

1:10:20And so Capitol Police stepped in. I do think it's a conversation that needs to be had about the MRA and how it's used. And maybe it does need to be increased to include security. It's not just about the members themselves. That's the members budget? Yes, I'm so sorry. It's the MRA. This is my Hill's fault. I'm here to translate for the people at home. But I just I think about the district offices. A lot of them are spread throughout the country and they're not staffed by many people, but they're pretty open. People can just walk in. And that's how we wanted our government to be designed, where you can walk in, ask a question, seek help for things like passports and renewals and different things.

1:10:54But if now they're under attack and fearful and afraid to go to events in their own communities, that's a problem. And it should be a problem for all of us to sit there and think about who is going to step up to be leaders. Who's going to want to run for office, putting yourself and your families in this in harm's way? It shouldn't be like that. We have let our political identities circumvent our humanity. Yeah. Adrian, I want you to listen to Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was responding to President Trump speaking last night in the Oval Office. And they posted the video where he blamed entirely the, quote, radical left for the murder of Kirk and for all the violence going on, political violence.

1:11:34Here's AOC. Using rhetoric of vengeance and violence, whether it is a member of Congress, whether it is the presidents of the United States, to assume and assert and cast blame when the FBI has failed to even apprehend the assailant is absolutely an irresponsible action. What do you think? Look, I think both sides have got to take the temperature down. I mean, I wish President Trump last night had used that moment to really unify the country and use his bully pulpit, which is very strong as the president of the United States, the president of the free world, to emphasize that we need to turn the temperature down.

1:12:14We are human beings, Jake. And I believe that, you know, most of Americans live what I call between the 20-yard lines, which is we all agree on most things. We just maybe have a different way of getting there. And politics have just gotten to such an extreme level in this country, and I think it's incumbent on both sides, especially individuals with a huge platform, to just take it down a couple notches. I also want to say something that you said about the members' budget in Congress. I was a chief of staff for about five and a half years. That was about 15 years ago. But it was not nearly as dangerous as it is now.

1:12:45And the fact that members have to use their campaign budgets to pay for security, it should come out of their official campaign budgets. you also want your office to have a storefront so that your members of your community can come in. And it's just a shame that we've gotten to this level. It does seem, Congressman, as though that this horrible tragedy with Charlie Kirk is only balkanizing us more. It does seem like so many Republicans can't see that there is violence coming from the right towards the left. and so many Democrats, not Democratic officials, but certainly Democratic voices or progressive voices on social media, and I'm not equating them, but it does exist and it is ugly, rejoicing.

1:13:32And how do you fix it? I'm not blaming you and I'm not holding you responsible for fixing it, but how do you do this? How do you even accomplish this? Well, anyone rejoicing about this. It's disgusting. And, you know, I'm thinking about the Kirk family today. He was a father and a husband, and I can't imagine the situation and the way that they're feeling today. I agree. We have to take down the temperature. And look, there's political violence on both the left and right on the extremes. It has been studied, the ADL, the FBI, and Department of Homeland and security, two thirds to 75 % of political violence in this country come from the extreme right.

1:14:13But the rest of it comes from the extreme left. And I think we have to, especially in a moment like this, avoid the urge to blame the other side, to demonize the other side. I wish we had a president who could really bring us together in a moment like this. That is not the president we have. So it's up to the rest of us, Democrats and Republicans, to try to do that. I'm going to try to do that with my colleagues in the House because we have to prevent this from spiraling even further. Final thought. I just think that especially on this day, we're reminded of what leadership means. And I do feel as though President Trump has failed to meet the moment yet again, a moment when we need somebody to step forward and unify us.

1:14:58Because what happened to Charlie Kirk doesn't impact just Republicans. It impacts us as Americans. and we have to stop siloing ourselves as, oh, you're a Republican, oh, you're a Democrat. We are all Americans. And the fact that we have political violence and that we have become numb to it, that is a huge problem. This is not normal. This is not normal behavior. This is not normal for us. And we should not allow it to be. So it's on all of us, how we talk to one another, how we talk about one another. And any platform you have, I think that's what we need to be doing is being cognizant of it. And I think this talk of vengeance is really dangerous.

1:15:31And it's not, from what I understand of Charlie Kirk, and I'm certainly no expert, it's not what he seemed to stand for. He didn't seem to talk about anything other than winning arguments and victories at the ballot box. Allowing for debate, allowing for conversation. We would want that for everybody. We should all want to be able to have conversations. All right. Thanks to all of you. Yesterday, as the nation grappled with the assassination of yet another political individual, yet another school shooting was playing out near Denver. Colorado's governor joins me next to discuss that investigation.

1:15:59and the disturbing rise in political violence. And some breaking news. President Trump moments ago arriving at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx in New York. He's greeting players at their clubhouse. We'll monitor this. We'll be right back. You're going to win. I'll tell you what. George Steinberg was a great friend of mine. The whole family. It's a great family. In our national lead, an update from the family of one of the students wounded in Wednesday's school shooting at a Denver area high school. The victim is now identified as 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone. The family is saying that they appreciate the community's concern.

1:16:36They're asking for privacy. County officials today identified the shooter as a 16-year-old student at Evergreen High School, whom they believe had been radicalized by an extremist network. Here with us now is the Democratic governor of Colorado, Jared Polis. Governor, thanks so much for joining us under such awful circumstances. This marks yet another high-profile mass shooting in your state. Tell us more about this new information we've learned about the shooter and this extremist network. Well, I think we all await information about exactly how he was radicalized, whether there were any signs to look for.

1:17:13I just want to commend the actions of the teachers and the students at the school. The quick lockdown saved lives, and you'll be hearing more about this. The shooter in the hallways couldn't access the classrooms. There were two students very seriously injured. We're still hoping and praying that they're able to pull through. But the brave actions on the spot in real time, without those, this would have been a lot worse, Jake. Can you give us any any indication about what kind of radicalization we're talking about? I mean, that could really be anything from far right to far left to Islamist to anything.

1:17:49Do you have any any information? Yeah. Look, even though the the perpetrator has now died to self-inflicted wounds, we want to make sure we give the Jeffco County Sheriff the ability to do the full investigation. All of that information will be coming to light in the days ahead. And, of course, looking at it and learning from it to prevent this kind of horrific tragedy from that we've all experienced far too often from happening again. And we all know this could be anywhere and everywhere, Jake, and parents across the country all worry about sending their kids to school. That simply shouldn't be.

1:18:25And so we need to do more. We need to make sure we spend and send the message unequivocally that acts of violence are wrong and try to detect some of those early indications of radicalizations earlier to prevent this kind of a tragedy from happening. Do we know anything about where the shooter was able to get the gun? I know it's been reported that the family has guns and and when shooting in our state you do have to be 21 to buy a gun on your own but you can buy one with your parents at a younger age and obviously many families have guns and so the access to gun piece again will be put together what type of gun it was but at this point we want to stand in solidarity with the victims Evergreen High School students, their families.

1:19:10I'll be attending a vigil with many of the families at Evergreen High School right after this just to show them that we know we care. We have mental health resources for those in need to be able to continue on. And this tragedy happened less than an hour after the assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah, just the latest in a series of politically violent attacks this year. You've spoken alongside former Republican Governor Larry Hogan and current Utah Governor Spencer Cox about remedies for polarization. I want to play some of what Governor Cox said yesterday in the wake of Kirk's assassination and then get your response.

1:19:46Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken. More than the leaders, we just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. How do we unite the country? How do we end all this polarization? I really appreciate the sentiments, the words of Governor Cox. I encourage listeners to watch his whole speech, the devastating assassination of Charlie Kirk in kind of a fundamentally free speech area, right? At our universities, this is political speech at its core. This is what a healthy democracy is all about. And to be taken down by a bullet in a horrific attack is undemocratic and un-american.

1:20:34What we need, Jake, is more love, more respect, more understanding. We need to understand that we need to disagree better. Disagreeing is not something we should be ashamed of. It's fine to have arguments and debates, but they should not be settled by bullets or by knives. They should be settled through elections where we make sure that we voice our beliefs, we let the people vote, and we do our best. Because at the end of the day, whether you're left, whether you're right, whether you're center, most Americans feel deeply and care about our neighbors. We care about our families. We care about our country.

1:21:05And I think now more than ever, that needs to shine through. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, amen to what you just said. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you. Coming up next, why a judge cut off the opening statement from the man on trial for attempting to assassinate President Trump last year. Stay with us.

1:21:27In a law and justice lead, a dramatic day in court for the man charged in the assassination attempt of then-candidate Donald Trump last year near Mar-a-Lago. Ryan Ruth is representing himself, despite no legal training. Not even five minutes into his meandering opening statement, the judge cut him off. CNN's Randy Kay is at a Florida courthouse. Randy, what led to the judge's interruption? It was quite a day in court, Jake, with Ryan Ruth representing himself. It started out well. He was taking notes, but then things sort of went off the rails as he began his opening statement. He launched into a rant about Putin and Netanyahu and Hitler.

1:22:02And the judge right away said to him, I have limited patience. Don't make a mockery of this courtroom. He actually began to cry at one point during that opening statement. And she said, you have relinquished your right to conclude your opening statement. And that was that. Now, the prosecutors during its opening statement said that there was a timeline. and noted three aliases, at least three aliases, that Ryan Ruth was using. They also said that he made 17 trips to Trump's golf club before this incident occurred. And they also noted what they called a gear list. This was a handwritten list, allegedly written by Ryan Ruth, that included items such as diapers, because he was going to be laying in wait, allegedly, for at least 10 hours.

1:22:45Also, a note to himself to spray self with bug spray. There were two witnesses. The first was a special agent from the Secret Service. He's the one who allegedly spotted Ruth at the fence line. Now, he said that he saw him from five feet away, saw the barrel of the rifle in the fence line, and he said, hey, sir, to Ruth, and that Ruth smiled at him and then groaned. That's when he opened fire, and he says Ruth fled. Now, Ruth cross-examined that Secret Service agent, and the first thing he said to him was, good to see you. Is it good to be alive? The second witness was the eyewitness who spotted Ruth, he said, when he was allegedly fleeing.

1:23:23He described him as a tall white man with blonde hair. When Ruth cross-examined him, he said to him, You're my hero. You're a good man. You're the man. You're an American hero. And he closed his cross-examination with asking him, Are you a Trump supporter? That was stricken from the record. Jake? All right. Randy Kay in Florida, thank you so much. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Blue Sky, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper. You can follow the show on X at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to the show once you get your podcasts. Aaron Burnett out front starts now.

1:24:00A high-stakes showdown in Michigan's fierce Democratic Senate race. Progressives and moderates battle for power. Who will come out on top? Join CNN for results and analysis. Michigan Primary, August 4th on CNN. and watch on the CNN app.