Police: 116 Rifle Rounds Recovered In Minneapolis School Shooting

27:17Family planning to avoid unwanted pregnancies, to avoid abortions. It did not cite abortions as one of the top 10 health achievements, and it was not saying abortion is part of family planning. Read the document, Secretary Kennedy. Again, a Kennedy construction built upon a foundation of mendacity. And this is just the latest example of Secretary Kennedy making rash decisions that could impact your health, basing them, these decisions, on complete and utter falsehoods. Let's talk about this now with former acting director of the CDC, Dr. Richard Besser. Dr. Besser, from a practical standpoint, tell us how CDC business, tell us how public health could be impacted right now, given all the chaos at CDC and all these experts being shown the door or walking out the door because they say there is no emphasis on science and fact when it comes to kennedy and the hhs you know jake i i think about this from from two different perspectives one as a pediatrician i practiced pediatrics for more than 30 years and i relied on the cdc for the recommendations around vaccination that I use with my patients.

28:42And I would say, go to the CDC website. You can understand because that is the best recommendations in terms of what you should do to protect your health, protect the health of your children. I look at it as a pediatrician and say, you can no longer go to the CDC website and feel comfortable that you're getting the best information possible. As someone who worked at the CDC, I worked there for 13 years. I was the acting director for about six months. I ran emergency preparedness for four years. And, you know, I saw the rigor that went into all of the recommendations that came forward to the public around vaccination.

29:22I saw the great depth of talent that kept our nation safe and ready for whatever public health threats came our way. And to see those talented individuals, the director and those center directors leaving the agency because they could no longer function there, is absolutely devastating. This is a brain drain of astronomical proportions. I worked with Dan Jernigan on many different outbreaks. He's an incredibly brilliant epidemiologist. Dimitri is extremely talented and did such incredible work to help develop the science behind the decisions for COVID vaccine, for other respiratory vaccines. You know, to see the head of the immunization center say that he can no longer work there because the politicians aren't listening to the advice, to the recommendations of the nation's brightest scientists is absolutely shocking and frightening.

30:24because we know there will be future public health emergencies. There will be future pandemics. And the idea that someone like Secretary Kennedy is in charge during one of that is absolutely chilling. I want to read a tweet from today from Dr. Adol Gawande. I know you know who he is. He's a surgeon and one of the best health writers in the country. He's a public health researcher as well. This is not a guy prone to histrionics. but this is what he wrote, quote, medicine and public health had added three decades to the human lifespan. Vaccination alone produced 40 percent of the reduction in child deaths.

31:04And now a disturbed and unqualified man driven by crackpot theories is destroying the foundations of this work, including CDC, unquote. Do you agree? Fully. You know, the one piece of news today that gave me some hope was what you reported about Senator Cassidy and his statements about the September meetings. Because we need Congress to step up and provide the oversight function to call out what is taking place. because these actions by Health and Human Services, the decimation of CDC, it's also the decimation of state and local public health, because most of the dollars that come to CDC go out to states and local public health departments to provide the support for what takes place in communities.

31:55Every community is going to be impacted. People in rural communities are going to be impacted even further because they rely so greatly on governmental public health. lower income individuals, people with disabilities. Senator Cassidy in his role can play a very important part of the holding accountable of this administration. I think as well that when you think about it, the White House, when there is a public health crisis, people are going to hold the president and this administration accountable. And I think it may take that. It may take a rise in vaccine preventable diseases. Unfortunately, it may take children experiencing infections that could be prevented from vaccine for this administration to say, you know what, we cannot stand behind these kind of absurd theories from this secretary that are going to put us at such great risk.

32:48Dr. Richard Besser, thanks so much. It's always good to have you here. New video from a woman in Ukraine showing her apartment in shambles hit by a drone on yet another sign that Russia is nowhere near ending its reign of terror. So why the bizarre comment from the Kremlin in the midst of this attack? We're going to bring you that comment next.

33:16Our worldly now, four Ukrainian children are among the 21 people killed in Russia's overnight strikes on Kiev. The second biggest aerial attack since the beginning of the war. Remember, this is what President Trump said almost two weeks ago in Alaska when asked if there would be consequences if Putin didn't agree to the ceasefire that he was trying to get at the summit in Alaska. There will be consequences. Sanctions, tariffs? There will be, I don't have to say, there will be very severe consequences. That was a couple days before he went to Alaska. Yet, as CNN's Melissa Bell reports, Russia continues to kill innocent Ukrainians.

33:56Kyiv under attack once again, with Russia unleashing over 600 air attack weapons on the Ukrainian capital, in what appears to be the second biggest aerial attack since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Footage from the ground shows families huddling for safety as missiles fall on buildings across the city. Search teams still digging through the rubble around buildings hitting the strike, With the full extent of the damage still being assessed, families are still searching for their loved ones. When I came out, everything was covered in dust and smoke. I looked up, the roof was gone, and the floors from the fourth to the first were completely destroyed.

34:44As of now, my wife hasn't been found. Some of those damaged buildings belonged to the European Union and the British Council. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling the strike a clear response from the Kremlin to calls for ceasefire talks and for diplomacy between the two countries. Russia says it is still interested in peace talks, but its so-called special military operation is still ongoing, a conflict that continues to shake Kiev residents. God forbid anyone ever has to go through this. You know, my worldview has changed. You realize that you survived, that you're alive. And that alone is already something.

35:28Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris. And our thanks to Melissa Bell for that report. Next, we're going to go inside that confrontation at the U.S. Open that is likely lighting up your social media feeds. Stay with us.

35:45in our sports lead no love lost after that dramatic confrontation at the u.s open in new york it happened yesterday between underdog taylor townsend and latvian superstar jelena ostapenko one of townsend's winning points resulted from what's known as a net cord shot whereby sheer luck the ball hits the top of the net and then falls on the opponent's side, making a return virtually impossible. Now, typically, the scoring player in such a situation is expected to raise a hand and offer something of an apology. It's a polite tradition. Townsend did not do that. And after her win, Ostapenko went courtside and took a verbal shot at her.

36:27She told me that I have no education, no class, and to see what happens if we play each other outside of the U.S. And I said, you know, I'm excited. Bring it. Join us now to try to decipher all of this. Tennis host and producer Andrew Krasny. Andrew, to an outside observer, the reaction from the Latvian superstar, the anger, seems a little overblown. How common is this unspoken rule of an apology for that happening? Well, Jake, the interesting thing is usually a net chord wins you the point. instantly. And that's not what happened in this case. It fell over the net. Yelena got to the ball, was able to hit it back over the net, and then Taylor won the point.

37:08So it wasn't your traditional net cord, but it might be an unspoken rule. But in the heat of competition, especially at the U.S. Open, to not raise your hand and say you're sorry is not that unusual. And by the way, here's a little secret. No one means it when they say they're sorry anyway. Right. It's inherently insincere. Do you think that the response from Yelena Ostapenko was justified? I don't. And listen, I'm a big Yelena fan. I tend to remain as neutral as I can when covering tennis tournaments. I'm a fan of both of them. First and foremost, I want to say that I think Taylor handled this incredibly well.

37:46She took the high road, let her racket do the talking. I think Yelena, in the heat of the moment, which she's known for having a temper, was a bit out of line. And she picked the wrong girl to do it with, if you want to know what I think. Give us a little more background, because most of us aren't the tennis maven that you are, in terms of who Taylor Townsend is, other than an underdog in this match, and who Yelena Ostapenko is. Well, first of all, Yelena Ostapenko has been ranked as high as number five in the world. She won Roland Garros in 2017. On paper, she should have beaten Taylor. But in the last couple of times they've played, she hasn't beaten Taylor.

38:24So she's gone into the match with a little bit of a grudge, for lack of a better word. Taylor Townsend is the first mom in the history of the WTA to become number one in the world in doubles. She's won two Grand Slams. They're both incredibly talented girls. This should be a conversation where we're celebrating Taylor. Taylor's success is unheard of, what she's done in her career. the fact that she just had a baby four years ago. She's become number one in the world in doubles, as I just said. I think it really is in the heat of the moment. Like we saw with Daniil Medvedev a couple days ago, a lot is on the line at the U.S.

38:59Open. U.S. Open is where we want stars to shine. We don't want to dim their light. So this is one of those conversations where I wish I was just talking about the accolades of these players as opposed to a heat-of-the-moment mistake. And I don't think we should cancel Yelena in this moment. I believe that she regrets what she said. She's trying to justify it. But the more she talks, the more it's not working in her favor. All right, Andrew Krasny, thanks for the insights. Really appreciate you having you on the show. Thanks, Jake. Just moments ago, we talked about President Trump firing the CDC director.

39:32He also fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, or is trying to anyway. She's pushing back today with a lawsuit. Next, we're going to discuss how his actions set up a legal showdown over his presidential powers. That's next.

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41:10Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

41:17Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, a hearing has now been set for tomorrow morning. A legal hearing over whether President Trump can actually fire a Federal Reserve governor for the reason he is citing. This is the latest chapter in a legal battle with major implications for the Fed, for the interest rates that you pay, and for the power of the presidency. Plus, an 11-year-old girl speaking to CNN today about surviving that horrific mass shooting at the Minneapolis Catholic School yesterday. Hear her account of sitting in the church just moments before gunfire erupted. And how she and other children ran into a nearby room and piled furniture in front of the door.

41:55Also, did Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reveal the identity of an undercover CIA officer? What sources are telling CNN tonight about a recent memo made public by DNI Gabbard? and how her office is responding. That's ahead.

42:14The lead tonight, the legal showdown over presidential power that is headed to the courts. Tomorrow morning, a federal judge is set to hold a hearing after Fed Governor Lisa Cook sued the Trump administration in federal court. Today, she calls the president's efforts to remove her from the position at the Fed, quote, unprecedented and illegal. President Trump says he's removing Cook over allegations that she made false statements on a mortgage application. But is that sufficient cause? CNN's chief White House correspondent and anchor Caitlin Collins is live for us at the White House. Caitlin, how is the White House responding to Cook's lawsuit?

42:48Well, Jake, they've acknowledged that she is challenging her firing, that this is going to now set up this huge legal showdown starting in court tomorrow, where Lisa Cook's just trying to get that temporary restraining order where she can basically stay on the job as this is going to play out. They knew this was going to be a legal battle, Jake. Obviously, we've never seen a president do this in the Federal Reserve Board of Governors history before. And so this is going to be a familiar territory for them because they've done this with other people who have never really been fired by the executive branch of foreign now are in this position.

43:19And so they say they're well prepared for this legal fight, Jake. They do ultimately believe they're going to win out here. And several White House officials pointed out to me that in her lawsuit today responding to this, that Lisa Cook did not deny the allegations that are being made against her exactly when it comes to these allegations of mortgage fraud. Obviously, that's going to play out in court, Jake. But the White House says, as she is prepared to fight this battle, that so are they. And Caitlin, there's another big controversy going on. This major shakeup at the CDC, Trump firing the CDC director, other top health officials resigning in protest.

43:57What are they saying about that and what this could mean for other federal workers and for the health of the American people? Yeah, Jake, it's pretty remarkable actually to see this playing out because Dr. Monterey has only been the CDC director for about a month now. She was sworn in not that long ago after being confirmed by the Senate. It was just five months ago that President Trump picked her for this job after the first person that he had designated to be the CDC director was clearly just not going to get enough support up on Capitol Hill. And so then they picked Dr. Monterey. The president put out a statement at the time calling her an amazing public servant, an amazing mother as well.

44:30Secretary Kennedy said that he handpicked her for this job and praised her Maha credentials. But now she has been fired, obviously, Jake, something that she was even disputing last night, saying she hadn't actually heard from the White House that she had been fired and was disputing whether or not Secretary Kennedy himself could actually do so, really arguing that that can only come from the president himself. And this is obviously a huge question at today's White House press briefing. And this is what the press secretary had to say about it. It was President Trump who was overwhelmingly reelected on November 5th.

45:01This woman has never received a vote in her life, and the president has the authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission. Now, Jake, I will note, obviously, she's referring to the president winning the election there, but she did get votes from Republican senators up on Capitol Hill who voted to confirm her. 51 of them voted not that long ago. And so now, one, obviously, there's real questions about who's running the CDC. Yes, they've named him an acting director, but it's not someone in a permanent position. There has not been a permanent CDC director since Trump took office, obviously, as they've been having this battle play out.

45:34But now, Jake, they have to go through this process of picking someone else, nominating them, and then also getting them confirmed by the Senate, even though the person that the Senate just confirmed has now been ousted from this job. And, Jake, I'll say, obviously, we've seen so much of the reporting on the tension behind the scenes between Dr. Montrez and Secretary Kennedy over vaccine approval and what the CDC is saying about that. Obviously, they were just praising her not that long ago, and the White House hasn't explicitly said where they did not align on those areas behind the scenes. But it's clearly led to the resignation of several top officials and potentially more to come, Jake.

46:08All right, Caitlin Collins at the White House. And don't miss Caitlin on her show, The Source with Caitlin Collins. Tonight, she's going to be joined by three of the CDC officials who resigned in protest. That's tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN. Joining us now, former U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Biden and former chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen. Secretary Yellen, thank you so much for being here. So we're turning back to the Lisa Cook affair. This is the first time that any president has tried to fire a governor of the Federal Reserve. You said in the Financial Times that this is dangerous and unlawful.

46:40What might you have done if this happened while you were chair of the Fed? Well, as you mentioned, it's never happened in the Fed's entire more than 100-year history that a president has tried to fire a governor. The Federal Reserve Act says that can only occur for cause. And the question here is whether or not an accusation that's been made against Lisa Cook without any charge or opportunity for her to address this allegation, whether or not this represents cause. And I'm not a legal scholar, and this will have to be litigated. But I think it's important to understand the context in which this is occurring.

47:33President Trump has expressed his disagreement with the policy stance that the Fed has taken. He believes that interest rates should be substantially lower. And he's mentioned on multiple occasions that his focus is on the high cost of servicing the government debt. And the higher interest rates are, the higher that debt service expense is. It's now close to a trillion dollars a year, the second largest item in the budget. But the Federal Reserve Act clearly specifies that the Fed's mandate is to achieve price stability and maximum employment. The goals are set by Congress. The independence of the Fed just means that the Federal Reserve has the ability to decide what settings of monetary policy are appropriate.

48:37And President Trump is clearly frustrated with Powell, with the monetary policy the Fed is pursuing. And I see this as part of a larger attempt to gain control of the Fed of monetary policy and to put people who agree with him and will follow his views. That's the overall goal. And he's made no secret. He's made no secret of independence of the Fed. Yeah. I mean, he's made no secret. He has made no secret. Yeah. The president said the other day for Americans to understand. Yeah. He said I just want to read the quote. The president the president said once we have a majority, housing is going to swing and it's going to be great.

49:25People are paying too high an interest rate. We have to get the rates down a little bit. The current Fed obviously disagrees, at least as of right now. There are seven members. There was a resignation a couple of weeks ago. If he replaces Lisa Cook, he will have four members that are his appointees, not including Jerome Powell, who also was his appointee, although disagrees with him. You say this threatens the independence of the Fed. I wonder, do you think that there are enough guardrails built into the system to protect the Fed? There are a lot of guardrails. The terms of Fed governors are 14 years.

50:01They're staggered. The Fed has budgetary independence. It's answerable to Congress, but the GAO is not allowed to audit the Fed's monetary policy decisions. It was designed to be able to make independent, professional, fact-based judgments. And I believe President Trump wants to change that. It's really important for Americans to understand how dangerous this is. Once upon a time, the Fed was obligated, this was during World War II, to help the Treasury Department finance the outstanding government debt, and it held interest rates low, just as President Trump wants now. And the consequence was very high inflation in the 1950s.

50:56There was an accord between the Treasury and the Fed then that said that's not the job of the Fed. And we know that Americans are tremendously concerned about inflation. This was a huge issue in the last election. They want inflation to be low. And the labor market is solid at the moment. Unemployment is very low. Job creation has generally been solid. And we're coming out of a period of high inflation. And the Fed is focusing, achieving low inflation and full employment, which is what they're mandated to do. So going down this path is dangerous. Do you think, I mean, one of the reasons why he's so frustrated is because the Fed has said that because of uncertainty in the economy, they're referring to the tariffs.

51:52They have not brought the interest rates lower yet because they're waiting to see what happens. And, you know, all of us who follow the tariffs and the impact know that there could be impact in the coming months, given the fact that so many businesses and small business owners have been eating the cost. do you think that there's any justification for those who criticize Jerome Powell who say he shouldn't even be talking about tariffs? That's political. We had somebody on the, Steve Moore was here the other day, and he said that that was political of Jerome Powell to say. Well, the Fed isn't trying to tell President Trump how to set tariffs or what his tariff policy should be, but they need to forecast what will happen to the price level going forward.

52:43We had a period of very high inflation. It's come way down, but it's not even now down to the Fed's objective of 2%. And the labor market is not weak. The labor market is functioning at a good level. And there is objective reason to believe, and the data is beginning to show it, the tariffs are pushing up prices. Now, Chair Powell did indicate in his speech at Jackson Hole last week that the labor market is looking a little softer. You know, so we have risks on two sides to the labor market, to the downside and some upside risk to inflation because of the tariffs, and he's indicated that the balance of risk might be shifting in a way that would appropriately lead to some cut in interest rates.

53:42But President Trump has said he wants dramatic cuts in interest rates, maybe 300 basis points. And there's really no way that the things that the Fed is considering would be taking into account would lead very quickly to cuts of that magnitude. All right, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, thank you so much for your views. We appreciate it. An 11-year-old shooting survivor speaking to CNN explaining how children ran from the church during yesterday's horrific attack and barricaded themselves in a nearby room. Hear her harrowing account next.

54:24This moment ago, we received this heartbreaking photo. This is a picture of eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel, forever eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel. He is one of the two children who was killed in yesterday's horrific shooting in Minneapolis. His father, Jesse, spoke earlier today, calling the shooter a coward. Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life. Give your kids an extra hug and kiss today. Absolute, absolute madness. The 10-year-old child who was killed has yet to be identified. We also have startling new video today showing some of the harrowing moments after the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church began.

55:12Where's the shooter? Where's the shooter?

55:17You can see children there. Children running for their lives. Some jumping over pews to escape. A father looking for his daughters took this video. CNN's Shimon Prokopez is outside the church in Minneapolis. And Shimon, you spoke with a child who survived the shooting. Tell us about her and what she had to tell you. Yeah, she's quite remarkable, Jake. She's 11 years old. Her name is Chloe. She actually talked about Fletcher. They went on vacation with Fletcher to the Dominican Republic. The family did. So she told us what a lovely boy he was and how much she was into sports, and she talked about the other girl who was killed.

55:55And all of these kids were such close friends, and they were so looking forward to their first mass of the new school year. And her story of how they reacted to the gunshots, what they did, how they hid, how they all reacted together to help each other, is just so remarkable in her retelling of everything. She was so poised and so incredible. Her dad has been telling me today how therapeutic it was for her to sit and talk to us. Take a listen to some of what she told us. So my mind, for some reason, keeps on replaying that exact scenario when the teacher started, like the teacher was in the middle of saying our prayers, and then we heard just one shot.

56:48It felt, I smelled smoke before everything, but I heard one shot, I thought it was a firework like everybody else. The second shot was just everybody just covering their ears. The third shot was when everybody started ducking low. And all these shots were like slow until the fourth shot, it started getting faster and faster. and then that's when everybody took into action. What was that action? When some kids, they hid under the pews the whole time and some ran off to the pre-K room. That's what I did. And in the pre-K room, everybody started to help, especially the kids and all the older buddies.

57:42we all started to help like putting tables on the doors, locking the doors, putting all this stuff on the doors as much as we could. And Jake, it's just incredible to think that these kids would know what to do. I mean, they drill for this, but when they have to react, when they have to take action, their ability to do it is just always so incredible. Well, I would say she's probably the sixth or seventh school shooting survivor that I have interviewed. And I'm always struck by what they remember. It's always the noises, the gunshots, how they cover their ears. And it's always the smell, smell of gunfire.

58:21In this case, it was the smell of a smoke bomb that the shooter used. But these are the things that the little kids always remember. And when they go to sleep at night, these are the things that they remember. And she talked about that. And the fear that she now lives with, and she's just hoping that eventually she'll be able to go back to school. There's just still so much work that needs to be done here as the healing is going to continue. But it's really tough. I mean, this was tough, Jake. I've said it more times than I care to. The adults of the United States are failing the children of the United States.

58:59I don't know how many times I have to say it. it's just a complete and utter failure to protect our children. And it's disgraceful, and I'm sick of having to report these things, as I know you are, Shimon. It's just enough. Shimon Prokopev of Minneapolis, Minnesota, thanks so much. Coming up next, what CNN is learning today about a major immigration crackdown set to start in one of the biggest cities in the United States in just days.

59:28Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Well, now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. In our Law and Justice lead, the Trump administration is preparing to conduct a major immigration enforcement operation, they say, in Chicago as soon as next week.

1:00:09That's according to sources who tell CNN the preparations including surging agents and armored vehicles to the city. Let's bring in CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, this would be a major escalation and certainly would not go over well with the leaders of Chicago and Illinois. Jacob, major escalation, but also the latest clash. Remember, Chicago was one of the first cities the Trump administration targeted when the president returned to office for its immigration enforcement operations. This is going to be much bigger in scope, of course, as they continue to escalate on this front. Now, the blueprint for this, according to sources I've spoken with, is Los Angeles.

1:00:47Los Angeles, of course, had U.S. Customs and Border Protection surge to the city Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but they also had National Guard there at the time to quell protests. And in this case, National Guard is also being prepared in the event that they are needed for what officials say would be peacekeeping presence. Now, as part of the preparation, not only are they sending armored vehicles and mobilizing more personnel there, including CBP agents, they're also talking about using a naval base nearby as a hub for federal personnel. Now, White House officials have told our colleague Elena Treen that this is distinct from what the president has suggested as far as a crime crackdown in cities like has been happening here in Washington, D.C.

1:01:32This is very much more focused on immigration enforcement in a city that did contend with an influx of migrant arrivals during the Biden administration when the Texas governor was sending migrants there. But certainly this is going to be a big escalation, Jake, and one expected to kick off next Friday, though conversations are still ongoing. And Priscilla, we're also learning that the Border Patrol arrested two firefighters in the midst of their fighting wildfires in the area of Seattle. Is that true? What happened? Yeah, according to a Washington congresswoman who confirmed these arrests, essentially these two firefighters were arrested at the site where they were fighting this blaze in Washington.

1:02:14What What is unclear, however, is the why. Why were they arrested, particularly at a moment where they, again, were at this site fighting this blaze? Now, Washington Senator Patty Murray says that she's demanding answers from the federal government about what exactly happened here, because that still isn't quite clear. But this is a wildfire that has torched thousands of acres. And it is indicative in many ways of how the broad immigration crackdown that is happening nationwide can go on to include individuals that perhaps you may not suspect and at moments that are inconvenient, to say the least.

1:02:52So this is something that Washington lawmakers are trying to get more answers on. But the bottom line is that they have confirmed that these two firefighters were arrested as they were fighting this blaze. All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much. It's right to our panel. So we were told that they were going to focus, at least in the first year, on getting the dangerous criminals who are undocumented immigrants out of the country. And I think most people were like, great, get the dangerous criminals out. I don't know that I would consider people who are heroically, you know, braving fires and trying to save American lives to be part of this crackdown that's needed right now.

1:03:29Yeah, I mean, it's also kind of strange that President Trump says that he's looking at waiving people who work in the hotel or agricultural business, but going after firefighters, well, that's a different matter, right? I think, though, that the real significance of this story isn't so much that they detained two firefighters. It's that they detained all of the firefighters for three hours while they were checking their IDs. And we saw a Washington Post story on Wednesday that all basically Salvation Army, all these NGOs that work for disaster relief in the United States, they're going to be required to basically do ID checks on American citizens to make sure they're not helping illegal immigrants.

1:04:10And so a lot of these strictures, it's not so much that they're detaining illegal immigrants, it's that they're gumming up the works for vast amounts of civil society and for first responders stuff to do this kind of thing. And I think it's going to eventually elicit a kind of blowback. Mike, CNN has a new, did you want to weigh in on that? Well, no, just that we'll see what that blowback is. Because I think you're absolutely right. These organizations are now going to have to add an extra step to all of this. But I'm not sure that we've seen the blowback yet. And with these two firefighters, one of them had an order of removal.

1:04:45So it's an open question. But at what point are the American people going to say it's too far too much? I don't know that we're there yet. Yeah, that's my comment. My point is you can defend detaining and deporting these guys. Why wouldn't you do it after the long day of work fighting a forest fire rather than interrupting the process of fighting a forest fire? And it's like that at scale when you think about all these other institutions that they're going to ask people to basically be de facto proxy immigration enforcement agencies that I think could actually just get to a management problem that the Trump administration is ill-equipped to deal with.

1:05:19And you talked about how there isn't blowback. And I agree there hasn't been like any system systemic change in Congress or anything like that. But the polling is going in favor of immigration. Like you see Republicans jump 20 points on immigration is good for America and from where they were six months ago. Like there is a subtle change going on in people thinking that maybe immigration isn't as bad, even illegal immigration isn't as bad as it was depicted. Because we're hearing stories about, oh, this waitress and oh, this teacher and oh, these firefighters. Yeah, but then you have the Washington Post today, since I think we're going to keep quoting the Washington Post.

1:05:58It's a great paper. Well, the CNN's reporting had that these firefighters, by the way, were not actively fighting, that they actually they had pulled them, all of them back. And that's when they did the ID checks. But that's CNN reporting. But let's go to The Washington Post. Yeah. So they reported that Pew's got a survey out that amongst Republicans, ICE is at 60. I think it's 68 percent approval rating. So to your point, we can we can play with these figures. But Republicans now, according to Pew, believe that a majority believe DOJ is a much better place, HHS, ICE, and one other, the FBI. And so I think when you talk about Donald Trump, is he playing to his base?

1:06:43Is he playing to the American people? In some instances, they're both. Yeah. But we're seeing Republicans come around. Speaking of playing to his base, we're told that the U.S. Air Force is going to provide full military funeral honors for Ashley Babbitt. Ashley Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, and she was the pro-Donald Trump rioter who believed his lies about the election being stolen in 2020. And she was shot and killed invading the Capitol when a group was trying to get onto the floor of Congress. A law enforcement officer shot and killed her after she breached a sensitive area. So full military funeral honors for Ashley Babbitt?

1:07:20I think it's grotesque. It's trying to turn her into a martyr to this day of love stuff. And it's part of the general whitewashing January 6th. I don't really know what else to say about it except it's gross. Well, she served in the military with honors. Everyone that was on the Capitol that day was given clemency. I mean, if you are under the rules, she's now eligible for that honor. I mean, that's what we're... But do you disagree that it's all part and parcel of trying to whitewash what happened January 6th? I think it's, I think it, I don't disagree that it is part of the reimagining of what January 6th was.

1:08:04And also, we just want to note, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard yanked the security clearances of several current and former intelligence officials. The controversy is that one of those whose security credentials she yanked was actually operating undercover, a CIA operative, according to a source. And this caught the CIA and the director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, by complete surprise. a person close to Gabbard disputes that this person was undercover. Look, when the Biden administration did that several years ago, it was egregious. When the Trump administration does it, it's egregious.

1:08:36You can't be too flippant with security clearances, nor when you have active members in the field. The position of D &I should never have been created, and she should never have been nominated, she should never have been confirmed, and she should have been fired a long time ago. Okay, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Heartbreaking stories are emerging just one day after that horrific Catholic school shooting in Minneapolis. Coming up next, I'm going to talk to a father who raced to the school to find his daughter after learning about the shooting. More in our national lead investigators believe that the Minneapolis shooter likely intended to carry out yesterday's attack from inside the church at Annunciation Catholic School.

1:09:15An official tells CNN that the shooter visited the church weeks ago under the pretext likely of wanting to reconnect with the Catholic faith. but officials say that because Mass had already started the shooter, may have been locked out of the church. Joining us now to discuss is Zach Seaman. His four-year-old daughter was in her classroom right below the church where the shooting happened. And Zach, we are so glad that your daughter is okay. Four years old is very young to go through something like this. Tell us what she experienced and how she's doing. She's actually doing reasonably well considering everything.

1:09:48I think she's too young to kind of grasp the gravity and severity of the situation. We're continuing to monitor her and make sure she's being the same as she was before. Well, also terrifying for you. Also terrifying for you. I mean, it must have been so frightening when you heard about the shooting. Tell us what you first heard and when you learned your daughter was okay. Well, I heard from my family friend who also has a daughter. she had called me. I'm a teacher in a different school district and we were doing our professional development workshop week. And she had called me an hour before and we had a conversation and then called me again.

1:10:32And I thought it was odd because we had just spoken and she just told me that there was an active shooter at Kennedy School. And so what did you do? Did you get in your car and zoom over? How does? Yeah, I dropped off my sorry, my son's in the back. No, it's seeing a kid is nice to see. Yeah, he got out of the watch of my wife. I got in the car. I ran ran in my car, drove up and I had to park a few blocks away because obviously the police had shut down the area. They let me through because I was a parent and I ran into the school. It seemed like there were hundreds of law enforcement and emergency response teams there.

1:11:21It was organized chaos. I mean, the staff directed us, you know, go to the gym, find your child. But my kid is, you know, small compared to all the other kids, you know, K through eight with all the parents. and she's four years old. Luckily, she was able to find me before I found her. And she was safe and unscathed. And I mean, when I hugged her, she said that she was worried that I got shot. And for a four-year-old to have that kind of thought, it's just, it's horrible. Yeah, that's not right. How is your community doing?

1:12:00Pretty broken up. It's a strong community. It's a smaller community. Like we live in Minneapolis, but you wouldn't tell by being there. It's very family oriented. Annunciation School has been amazing and will continue to be amazing. I have high hopes that we will rebuild the community stronger than it already was. You also have a son. We saw him playing in the background there. He goes to a different school. How is he processing all of it? um he is uh a little sad because he knew one of uh the the boys that that died he um my son participated in annunciations summer program which was also really good for them um and he was he knew uh one of the boys that was the interview has been going around social media and he knew one of the boys that the boy that was shot the eight-year-old so he's he's sad uh six six years old.

1:13:02Oh, so he's a six-year-old survived, but he's... Sorry, my son is six. He knew the eight-year-old. Okay, got it. Sorry about that. Yes, correct. Let me just ask you, do you have any ambivalence about sending your daughter back to school or no? I have high hopes. I have full confidence and an enunciation in their community. The school is amazing. I don't know when they're going to reopen, but when they do, my daughter will be there. I think it's important to show solidarity. And yeah, it's not the school's fault that this happened. No, definitely not. Zach Seaman, thank you. God bless you and your daughter and your son and I assume wife out there somewhere as well.

1:13:52I really appreciate it. Yes, I appreciate the time. The White House reaction to this horrific shooting is next.

1:14:07Young children were killed while praying in a church. It's utterly disrespectful to deride the power of prayer in this country. That's White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt earlier today. She was condemning Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fryan and others who have said, along the lines of, we don't want your thoughts and prayers, these kids were praying when they were shot. It's an expression of anger at those who offer nothing more than thoughts and prayers instead of trying to figure out legislative ways to solve this problem, or at least security ways to solve this problem. Let's bring in Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota.

1:14:49Her district includes the Annunciation Catholic School where this horrific shooting took place. Congresswoman, what's your reaction to what White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said earlier today about the power of prayer? Obviously, we all believe in the power of prayer. It is really important when families and communities are experiencing devastating grief that we pray for them to find relief, comfort, and to ask for the Almighty to help with that healing. But I can also understand the frustration that so many communities who have found themselves in these kind of horrifying moments feel that the only thing that's being offered is something that does not feel like there is an actionable item on the agenda.

1:15:40We heard from the priest and the principal of the Annunciation Catholic School. What he said yesterday is that he shared an African proverb that said, pray and move your feet. That tells us that it is important for us to pray, but it's also important for us to take actions as well. You were at the news conference today. The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, called for state and federal bans on what are called assault weapons and high capacity magazines. You questioned why Americans have the power to change this problem, but don't change this problem. What do you think can realistically be done in this Congress in order for there to be some action when it comes to keeping firearms out of the hands of mentally disturbed individuals who are sure to use them to do harm to themselves or others?

1:16:46I mean, we as Americans used to have this ban and decided to let it expire. We can reinstall the ban. But we can also address mental health issues in a serious way. We can collectively think of what we have to do when we see signs, signs that tell us that there might be something wrong. When we see these kind of videos on YouTube channels where somebody is glorifying violence. when we see them stockpiling that level of ammunition, when we see them have, you know, alarming messages written on their weapons, it is important for us to take action in reporting those kind of disturbing videos so that the relative agencies are able to investigate and make sure whatever action that person might be planning is not something that is going to devastate families and whole communities like we have been devastated and the families and the victims in Minneapolis have been.

1:17:56You're not just a congresswoman. Obviously, you're a mom. You have two sons and two daughters. As a parent, what do you even begin to say to these grieving parents? How do you even begin to process it? This is not the kind of thing that you can process when you are a parent. And I can't even imagine how the parents who this has happened to are able to process it. Just, you know, Jake, you're also a parent. Imagine taking, you know, your little ones to school. It's already hard to drop them off and leave them behind. And moments later, as they are kneeling in prayer, you learn that your little children have been assassinated by a monster and and you have to come to terms with I you know the idea that you just dropped them off and they're no longer there or you now are having to visit them in in the hospital we heard about a story where one of the parents was a nurse as she rushed to attend to the victims that were showing up at the hospital she learned that one of her children was part of that.

1:19:11I mean, this is something horrific that as Americans we have had to deal with, you know, countless times. And I remember, you know, nearly the 20th anniversary of Columbine, my daughter, who has been an active, has been active in making sure that we end this senseless gun violence in our country, organized a walkout. And she came, I was just newly elected, and she said, Mom, you were in high school when Columbine happened. You all didn't do anything, and we now have to deal with this ourselves. And so it is really important to make sure that we address this so no other parents, no other community, no other school, and no other city or state has to experience this kind of gut-wrenching, horrifying, painful experience that we now know in Minneapolis.

1:20:06Congresswoman Ilhan, Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

1:20:14So much going on today in our politics lead. President Trump's move to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook tests the independence of the Federal Reserve and sets up another legal battle over President Trump's authority. Here now is CNN senior legal analyst, Eli Honig. He is the author of the upcoming book, When You Come at the King, Inside DOJ's Pursuit of the President from Nixon to Trump. It is set to release on September 16th. We will obviously have him back to discuss this juicy-looking book. But let's talk about the subject. Does President Trump have cause, does he have a legal basis to fire Lisa Cook because there have been allegations made about her and mortgage fraud?

1:20:51So we're going to start to find out tomorrow when there's a hearing. The first question is, is there any there there? Now, what the administration has so far is a referral from a federal agency that oversees mortgages that lays out the facts that Ms. Cook signed two different mortgages within about three weeks of each other. One in Michigan and one in Virginia, or one in Georgia, excuse me, claiming both were her primary residence. Now, that's not nothing, but I don't think that's enough. And I think what the judge is going to say tomorrow is, you have to make a showing to me that there's enough there to show that she committed some wrongdoing.

1:21:22If they can show that, then the second question is, is it somehow related to her job with the Fed? And I think there's a good argument. If she did commit fraud, how can you be on the Fed if you were engaged in financial fraud? So that's going to be the first inquiry. If there is cause to dismiss her, game over. She's dismissed, and that's it. If there's not, then we're going to get into the juicier constitutional questions about whether the president has the right to fire her with or without cause. This fight is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where recent rulings have suggested that this conservative-leaning court is inclined to give the president expansive powers.

1:21:56Have you seen any signals on how the court might view this case? So there's signals both ways. The good news for the Trump administration is the court has absolutely given him expanded powers to fire federal officials, federal employees, regardless of laws that Congress has passed. The bad news, though, for the Trump administration is in a major ruling along those lines back in May, the Supreme Court went out of its way to say, yes, you have very broad powers, but the Fed is different. The Fed is designed to be quasi-independent. It derives from the First and Second National Bank. And so I read that as a pretty clear signal from the Supreme Court that, yes, we're going to give you very broad power over traditional agencies in the executive branch.

1:22:36But the Fed, I think, is different. I think if it goes to the Supreme Court, as generous as they've been with executive power, I do think they will draw a line here and say no to Trump on this. Very quickly, what if Lisa Cook says, I messed up. I didn't mean to do that. I misunderstood what was being asked for. I have returned the money that whatever tax benefits she got, I've paid a check, sent a check to the federal treasury. Sorry, I goofed. Yeah, that's going to be up to the judge. If the judge credits that, then it's not fraud. Then it's a mistake, right? But that's going to be, the judge is essentially going to serve as the jury here.

1:23:07We're not going to have a full trial. It's a credibility determination for the judge. Ellie Honig, thanks so much. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, ThreadsX, 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 at Front starts right now. I'll see you tomorrow.

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