Oregon Police: Children Killed Were 5, 8, and 11 Years Old

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1:01I'm Boris Sanchez in for Caitlin Collins. The breaking news tonight. Three children and one teacher were killed in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon this afternoon. A child and a teacher have been transported to the hospital in critical condition. Law enforcement sources say the shooter was a 16-year-old male. Moments ago, police gave a press conference describing the first 911 call coming from someone in a vehicle who said they had been shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun. Just moments later, multiple calls to police reported the person had entered the school.

1:36At 1.02 p.m., our first officers arrived on scene. Moments later, an officer reported that a suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him. Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead. They cleared the school to ensure there were no additional threats and then rendered emergency aid to the victims. Officers at the scene located five people who had succumbed to their injuries, including the suspect. The deceased at the scene include three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, and one teacher.

2:16One seven-year-old child and one 54-year-old teacher were transported by Ben Fire to St. Charles Bend with critical injuries. The families of the victims have all been notified. Police say the suspect forced his way into the school by shooting at locked doors. Let's bring in John Miller, CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, Jason Pack, retired FBI supervisory special agent, and Darren Porcher, a former NYPD lieutenant. John, let's start with you. What are you hearing from sources about this shooting? Well, they're investigating the 16-year-old shooter to determine what the possible motive was here, whether he had gone to that school, how did he get that gun, was it from the home, and a number of questions that have to be answered.

3:02At the same time, they're trying to piece together exactly what occurred from the time that that person arrived in that parking lot. Did he drive there? Was he dropped off? Did he walk? He opened fire first at a car in the parking lot and then shot his way through the doors to get into the school. The doors were locked. We haven't seen that, but in past instances, we've seen shooters shoot through the glass of the door and then make entry. A person followed him in with a licensed handgun and engaged the shooter who by that time had already shot and wounded and killed a number of people including three children but also two teachers who were likely trying to defend the children as he came in.

3:54And so this happened extraordinarily quickly. Police got there extraordinarily quickly. And even as they got there, the shooting part was over. Jason, so as you just heard in the outline, police got there shortly after 1 p.m. The shooter apparently first opening fire into a car and then going into the school. When you hear that timeline, what do those details reveal to you about possible premeditation?

4:24well that's the question that the ben police the chutes county sheriff's office are going to answer it certainly seems like they had a plan and they were determined to get through there by going in shooting the glass out allegedly and then making entry and then fortunately that concealed carry person was there to eliminate the threat and you know boris no matter what we say here tonight nothing's going to ease the pain of these families that have lost their loved ones and their teachers. But having said all that, these teachers, these drills, I think that we go through as students these days here in Bend tonight probably saved a few more lives because they were locked down.

4:58They made it harder for this shooter to get before that concealed carry permit person could come and eliminate that threat. That's a good point. Darren, the suspect, 16 years old, we don't know his connection to the elementary school. If he had been a student there, perhaps. How do police go about collecting the evidence that brings this context to light? Well, if you look at the history as it relates to these mass shootings, one of the things that we that which are always supported in these investigations would be there's a grievance. What was the grievance that the shooter looked to air? And that's something that we'll be able to recover when we do the background assessment based on his his computer, his phone, things to that effect.

5:42We're going to look to see if he possibly traveled on the dark web and he was a part of a particular group, or this was a copycat offense from something that happened in the past. That being said, when we look through the lens of these mass shootings, a mass shooting is very different than your normal street crime. When I say normal street crime violence, meaning, I'll give you an example, someone looks to rob someone, and in the midst of robbing that person, they shoot and kill him. Here with these mass shootings, they're very different. As I mentioned in the earlier part, it's that grievance.

6:16And the one troubling narrative here is we have a 16-year-old that's in possession of a long gun, where in the state, you need to be 18 years old to be in possession. So it begs the question of, do we possibly have a prosecution for an adult in this case? And we look to what happened in the Crumley shooting back in Illinois, whereas the parents were actually criminally prosecuted based on their unwillingness or not taking the appropriate action to ensure that the firearm didn't fall in the hands of a minor. Yeah, that potentially set a precedent for other similar cases. John, to that point from Darren about having to be at least 18 to buy a long gun in Oregon, How do officials figure out how the suspect got this weapon?

7:05Well, they'll be able to bring in ATF, who's already on the scene. ATF, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. They will trace the serial number of that gun to the point of sale. That'll bring them to a gun store, and that will bring them to a paper record that's on file that says who they sold that weapon to. What we have seen statistically, Boris, is that in the vast majority of these school shootings carried out by kids, the gun came from the home. And as Darren pointed out, in the Crumbly case, those parents got lengthy sentences, 10 and 15 years. In the Appalachia, Georgia case, another lengthy sentence for the father.

7:52So this is part of the new reality for parents. If their kid is going to become a school shooter, there's legal liability, criminal liability there too. Officials at the press conference that just wrapped up a few moments ago characterized the person who shot the suspect as a community member, Jason. And we are getting some brand new EMS radio dispatch that indicates it may have been a father. Let's listen. We are taking an active shooter call at 6153307 East Stone Creek Lane. Looks like the shooter has been neutralized, possibly shot by a father at the school. Not sure about patients at this time.

8:36The police are arriving. And again, Oregon's Governor Tina Kotech confirmed this moments ago, a community member intervened to help prevent further loss of life. I wonder if you think that that person is someone that officials are zeroing in on tonight and getting their view of what happened. Oh, I think the father must have had a child at the school and saw the shooter go in with a rifle or a long gun, whatever I think we've determined it to be yet, and eliminated that threat. His kid was in that school and he did not stand by and wait for the police to come, it appears, based on this audio that you're just releasing.

9:14It appears he decided to take action and probably save lots of lives. Darren, we were talking about the number of school shootings and sort of the typical cases. There have been at least 52 school shootings in the U.S. this year, 36 of which were on K-12 school grounds. The FBI director tonight said the FBI is assisting in the investigation, saying, quote, we will make every resource they need available. Talk to us about what that coordination has looked like in the past and what that says about what it might look like in this situation. Well, Boris, in connection with those 52 school shootings, we've had 28 deaths.

9:53So it's clear that these school shootings are reaching epic proportions. No school district wants to be the next Uvalde. So as a result of that, we want to follow the teachable moments of the past in terms of how we can create a more robust and fortified school system without having armored tanks in front of the establishment. The FBI, the state law enforcement, as well as local law enforcement are going to triangulate a strategy in terms of how they can address this situation in particular. But this has been a mounting task for years on end. We have more guns than people in the United States.

10:35And these school shootings are far too much. We look at the United States as this violent entity. And in some instances, it seems as if we're running in parity with Mogadishu over in Somalia. We can do a better job. I don't think gun control is the answer because we just don't have the ability to remove people's firearms. But at the same token, the fortifications of these institutions of learning would be the focal point in terms of how we can better protect our children in the United States. Darren Portcher, John Miller, Jason Pack, appreciate the expertise. Thanks for your perspectives. Up next, there are 19 days until the midterms, and today Michigan saw some political heavy hitters.

11:17Vice President J.D. Vance, Congresswoman Alexandra Acacia-Portez, both in the state. Two very different messages. Our political sources join us in just a moment.

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12:3519 days until the midterm elections and the races that will decide control of Congress are playing out almost entirely in states that Donald Trump won two years ago. The two most valuable commodities in politics, they say, are time and money. And in these critical final days before the midterms, both are focused squarely on places that traditionally have been Republican strongholds. The president's own travel schedule illustrates how he and his party are playing defense just about all over the map. We have some great rallies. I guess a lot of you have seen them. Last night, Montana. During the day, Arizona.

13:10We went to Texas. We went to everything. We're going to Michigan big. We're going to Iowa big. We're going to Kansas big. And we got a lot of them left. Two states exemplify the efforts required to pull the president's preferred candidates across the finish line. In Texas, Republicans are set to plow another$85 million into the final weeks of the Senate race. And new FEC filings show that Elon Musk has spent more than$105 million to help Republicans in the Lone Star State, where both President Trump and J.D. Vance have made five in-person stops this month alone. Look, Ken Paxton's a guy that, whether you like Ken or not, honestly, I mean, I understand some people are controversial, etc.

13:54I don't happen to be a controversial person, so I'm very happy. But Ken is a little bit controversial, so hopefully he's going to win. I'd say they pulled a pretty even now, and we had a great rally in Texas. I'll go back. If it's necessary, I'll go back. On social media, though, the president is already blaming a possible Ken Paxton loss on John Cornyn and his, quote, little buddy, super rhino Karl Rove. Important to point out, Senator Cornyn voted with President Trump 99 % of the time. That clearly not good enough for the president, who endorsed the scandal-plagued Paxton and set the stage for the tight race that we see now.

14:33In Michigan, Mike Rogers, the Republican running for Senate, announced plans today for a seven-figure ad buy with fewer than three weeks to go. That race so tight that it drew a pair of D.C. headliners today. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined the Democrat running against Rogers, Abdul El-Sayed, for the start of a two-day swing through the state's Upper Peninsula, a traditionally red area. We go into a grocery store every single week. Beef is getting recalled. Chicken you can't eat. Lettuce you can't eat. Blueberries you can't eat. We can't even, even if you can afford your groceries, you can't even know if you're going to get your kids sick or not.

15:15Also in Michigan today, the vice president attempting to counter program that message with one of his own. What you have on the other side of this election is one of the craziest, one of the most far left and one of the most radical people running for high office in the history of the United States of America. You deserve better than a little weasel who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything.

15:47El-Sayed responded directly to those comments by the Vice President. You know it's funny, JD Vance called me a little weasel today. I'm like no, no, no. What you're talking about is a f***ing Wolverine.

16:16You could take your buckeye and go shove it somewhere else. It remains to be seen how much of an impact that sort of back and forth is going to have. But El-Sayed believes the president will play so poorly in Michigan, he's actually pleading with Trump to campaign there. It appears he may get his wish. We want to keep our country away from this guy like I call him Mohammed El-Sayed. and his name is Abdul, but I think I call him Mohammed Abdul Al-Sayed. And I will tell you that I look forward to going up there to expose this fraud that's running. He's a fraud. He's a con man. My political sources are veteran Democratic strategist Karen Finney, Republican strategist Malik Abdul, and CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

17:06Thank you all for being with us. Harry, you are the data guy, so let's start with you. what number matters most, the amount spent on TV ads at this point, or the fact that now fewer than 20 days out, only 18 % of people in a new Fox poll say they're doing better financially now than they were two years ago? The latter, the latter. I mean, it's the polling that matters most because the bottom line is this. There's already been a ton of money spent across the political map. And the best you can do is what, that 18 % saying they're better off? I mean, Trump's numbers are absolutely garbage. They're trash.

17:40He has the highest disapproval rating of all time when it comes to inflation going into a midterm election. In fact, he has the worst inflation net approval ratings that I've ever seen for any president. We're talking going all the way back to James Earl Carter. He's the first guy ever to hit minus 50 points or worse than the net inflation. I think for Republicans, they are hoping, they are praying down on their knees, pretty, pretty pleased with the cherry on top that all that outside money will be able to shift these races in the final few weeks of the campaign, because if the election were held today, the Democrats would be favored to pick up the United States Senate and not just by a little.

18:14If you look across the political map, they could end up with 52, 53 seats if the polls were exactly right. Well, Malik, given that backdrop that Harry just laid out and the conventional wisdom being that if John Cornett had won the primary and run for reelection, then Republicans wouldn't be spending that massive amount of money in Texas. It would be a lot easier for him to win. What do you make of President Trump blaming him for Ken Paxton potentially losing that race? Did you think Donald Trump was going to blame himself? Of course he's not going to do that. Many people said at the time when you just, a pure analysis, not about who you'd like more, it was just a pure analysis who would do better.

18:54And polling back then was that John Cornyn would do better. Senator Cornyn would do better against Tallarico. And so we're seeing the result of that now. I get Donald Trump's frustration, but I think that Donald Trump is doing something good. You know, he was criticized for going to the Syracuse area, but many people seem to forget that Donald Trump actually won the rural areas around Syracuse. So whether it's New York, whether it's Michigan, whether it's Texas, whether it's Florida, Donald Trump is going to go everywhere because we have seen that Donald Trump has carried the Republican Party on his back to wins.

19:29And so, as he said, I'm on the ballot this time around. And in every way, he's on the ballot. So he's campaigning for these people and he wants to win. So I don't blame him for doing it. Although the problem is in a midterm election, it is very mobilizing to Democrats and frankly, to moderate Republicans and independents and particularly a state like Michigan, where the tariffs are a huge issue. I mean, add in all the other, every costs are too high, the tariffs and every time he is attacking Canada, it's more of a headache for them. And there's a much more of a, particularly in the UP, a sensitivity to that.

20:07Although I think it's an interesting choice to take AOC up there. Well, I wanted to ask you about that in part because as President Trump tries to play to the base and get low propensity voters, the folks that really only come out for him, it seems like Democrats, at least with this stop in Michigan, AOC is trying to reach over to Republicans, perhaps independents, even as the candidate that she's stumping for by her opponent, by his opponent, is being painted as someone who's not a moderate, not in line with with their values. Well, let me just say, Trump and J.D. Vance, we didn't even play the worst of what Vance said.

20:39It's racist. It's dog whistle. It's disgusting. And I actually I hope that it actually turns voters off because I hope they're smart enough to say, clearly they are going in for, you know, for the jugular with the racist dog whistles to try to deflect from. So we're not paying attention at the pump and we're not paying attention to the grocery store. But with AOC, what's interesting is I suspect that part of what they're trying to do, this is part of, frankly, we did this when Hillary ran for the Senate the first time. Trump himself did this the first time he ran for president. Going to places that don't usually get those kinds of visits because you will get people who show up who say, I'm just curious.

21:15I've never heard her. I haven't heard him. I haven't seen them. Let me go see what they have to say. And the hope is you get them in the room and then what they hear, they like what they hear and they, maybe you persuade, but I will say we're pretty close to the point when we're talking about all this money where, and I agree with Harry, like the money that you're spending, you're not persuading anybody anymore. It's really about turnout at this point. So what do you think of AOC going to an area that Republicans historically have dominated? I think it's smart politics. And as you heard from AOC herself, it seems as if she was attempting to link Donald Trump and Republicans to contaminated lettuce and beef.

21:53I don't know if that's something that's going to resonate. I don't know if that's something that's going to resonate in the area of Michigan where she is. But I think it's smart politics for anyone. I think that all politicians should go everywhere. Donald Trump, his 50 state strategy, he's trying to redeem first. Fair point. But Donald Trump, this is that's why you're going to see him go everywhere. And it doesn't matter how much people may criticize and say, well, why is Donald Trump here? Because he's a winner. There is an important Senate race in a state where I'm not sure the candidate, the Republican candidate, would welcome Donald Trump.

22:29And Harry, that is Maine. There was a moment during Maine Senate debate tonight where a protester interrupted Senator Susan Collins. She's trying to sort of run toward the middle and distance herself from the president, especially on the tariffs and the war in Iran. But listen to this protester and what he was upset about. That's one thing that I've been consistent on. two issues. Senator Collins, I'm so sorry to interrupt. I'm sorry somebody's interrupting. We'll have our security deal with that. AI data centers are destroying our climate. They are poisoning our water. So this is obviously one of Troy's supporters.

23:09Oh, shut up. I didn't, I didn't, I don't even know that kid. Harry, do you know that kid? I'm just kidding. Well, I think, I think it was my long lost friend, Ronald McDonald. No, no, I don't know who it was. But this is just one example of how emotional people are in these races around the issue of data centers. I mean, look, it's I think one of those issues that's almost come up out of nowhere. No one was really talking about it three, four months ago when it came to what could ultimately be the determining factor in a lot of these races. And what we know from the polling is that data centers are deeply unpopular.

23:42AI is considerably less popular than it was even just two years ago. And we also know that the president of the United States, Donald John Trump, is a big fan of data centers. It is simply put, not a winning issue when it comes to these campaigns. Now, will it ultimately determine who wins and who loses? Look, I still think inflation is at the top of the list. But all of a sudden you start building up a mountain, right? And you go, oh, my goodness gracious, how much some of these Republican candidates have to overcome, especially someone like Susan Collins, who's running in a state that Donald Trump lost two years ago as compared to the rest of these, mostly these swing states in which Donald Trump, of course, not only just won, but in many of them won by double digits.

24:21Malik, there were some new polls out from Fox today with some really interesting numbers. President Trump's approval rating among them, it just hit a new low among Republicans. On top of that, they asked voters what the most significant issue to them was in this election. And the answer surprised me, but it was corruption in government. What do you make of that, especially as we're seeing these headlines about Kimberly Guilfoy having to resign over these accusations and others in the administration being accused of all kinds of malfeasance when it comes to pocketing money? It's not great as we head into the midterms because voters are going to, whatever your issue is, whether that's on the local level or the state level, voters are going to take their frustration out on usually, and as we've seen, the party in power.

25:07So if you're concerned about data centers, that's actually a really big issue. And you've seen candidates just across the country try to adapt to that. You've seen Byron Donalds in Florida talk about certain things, even pushing back on some of the rules that regulations that his own lieutenant governor pick actually had with that. I think that's something that can happen. And even with Susan Collins, when you listen to Susan Collins, and it's interesting that they were talking about when have you stood up to her to your party? MAGA hates Susan Collins because of the fact that she stood up to Donald Trump, whether that's on things like his on, you know, appointments or otherwise.

25:47They've been pushing against it. But I think that she's running some smart politics in Maine. And that's why she's going to win. You know, just I would just remember, though, the AI data centers, they actually tie into corruption because people see these big corporations getting all these tax breaks while, you know, they can't afford housing, all their costs are going up. And they're saying, what about taking care of the little guy? And it's making their energy costs go up. I'm not surprised, actually, that corruption is now so high because people, as an issue, because people see it as the system is rigged.

26:18They see what Trump is doing and they feel like, well, who's looking out for me? And I think the candidates that are going to be victorious are the ones people feel are fighting for them. Karen, Malik, Harry, appreciate the conversation. After the break, my next source is a Republican fighting to hold on to his seat. Does he think President Trump has helped him make his case?

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27:25That number, the final snapshot of rising prices before Election Day. Gas prices accounted for more than half of that increase, with the national average now at$4.33 a gallon. Diesel prices increased to$6.32 today, far above the$3.60 average, this time one year ago. With President Trump on a midterm blitz in a series of deep-bred Republican states, incumbent Republican lawmakers in battleground districts throughout the country are fighting their own battles to protect their seats this November. One of them is my source tonight, Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York's 17th District. Congressman, thanks so much for sharing your evening with us.

28:03So the Trump administration's own data shows that overall prices had the largest increase in five months. Who should voters blame for that when they vote in 19 days? Look, when you are focused on economic news, you can't cherry pick it. There are a lot of factors happening right now. We delivered the largest tax cut in American history, putting on average over$4 ,000 back in the pockets of my constituents across my district. We also passed the largest bipartisan housing bill to pass Congress in 36 years. That became law to increase supply, to cut red tape, to increase access to capital and ultimately start to bring down prices.

28:49Right now, we're in the process of passing permitting reform. When we get back after the election, that will come to fruition. If you want to bring down energy prices, for instance, you need to increase supply. So if you look at the state of New York, where utilities are up 58 percent in six years, why is that? That has nothing to do with Washington or the Middle East. That has everything to do with Kathy Hochul and the disastrous decisions to shut down nuclear power, ban natural gas and block pipelines. People are paying on average$800 for delivery charges on their utility bills in New York because we're importing the energy from other states.

29:28So there's a number of factors with respect to prices, and we have to look at it in totality. Under Joe Biden, you saw cumulative inflation of 21 percent. That raised the baseline price of everything, okay, from whether it's groceries, healthcare, housing, energy. We started to make some progress. Obviously, the war in the Middle East in Iran has created volatility in the oil markets. We want that to come to a conclusion. We want gas prices to come down. The war in Ukraine and Russia and the attacks on diesel and energy facilities certainly are not helping energy prices. So there's a number of factors here.

30:17At the end of the day, we want prices to come down. We all recognize that is the objective. But the only way you're going to get there, Boris, and I think one of the things that is critically important for voters to recognize, Democrats want to increase spending. We saw under Joe Biden$5 trillion in new spending. That's what gave us 9 % inflation. That's what drove up interest rates because they increased spending. They increased borrowing. They increased our debt. They also want to eliminate oil and gas production in America. They've made it very clear. I just want to end on this one point. They've made it very clear.

30:55They want to bring down. No, I understand. But the fossil fuels is critical. You talk about gas prices, right? You focused on that at the beginning. What do you think gas prices will be if Democrats get their way and they cut oil and gas production in America? That's their stated policy goals. They want to eliminate fossil fuels. So can somebody explain to me how exactly you're going to drive down gas prices when you want to eliminate fossil fuels? Let's dig into some of the numbers that you brought up. When President Biden left office, his last day in office, inflation was at 3 percent. More than 20 months later, it's up to 3.7 percent.

31:33You talk about housing, mortgage rates are higher than they have been in years. Aren't you concerned that the rising cost of energy, the rising cost of just about everything, is going to offset some of the things you argue that you've done for the American people when it comes to affordability, like cut their taxes or extend tax cuts that were already there. So again, cumulative inflation under Joe Biden was 21 percent, 21 percent, which drove up the cost of everything. Inflation is still too high. I agree. And we want to bring that down. But part of the way to do that is increased domestic supply of energy.

32:15And that's why we're working on getting a permanent reform bill passed so that we increase oil, gas, nuclear, solar, wind. Why is it that in the state of New York, which is Democrat controlled, prices are exponentially higher than anywhere else in the country? If they're doing such a great job in New York, shouldn't prices be lower than the national average? They're not. They're the highest in the country because of the policies under Kathy Hochul in which they eliminate production of energy in New York, in which they increase spending by over$100 billion in six years. These are real problems facing my constituents.

32:54Is your argument that gas prices and diesel prices would not or would remain high for your constituents were it not for the war in Iran? Because that is the main driver of inflation right now. That is what has people concerned, that they're paying significantly more than they were just months before this war began, a war that the president's own defense intelligence agency acknowledged didn't have an imminent threat from Iran as a reason to start this war. In other words, that there wasn't the basis for an immediate action against Iran from the intelligence that President Trump was basing his decision on.

33:37So a few things. I said during my comments that obviously the war in Iran has caused volatility in the oil markets, which, of course, has driven up prices for gasoline. But think about this. In New York, you're paying eight hundred dollars a month on delivery charges for your utility bill, which means on top of that, you're paying three hundred, four hundred dollars for the actual energy costs. So you're paying over$1 ,000 a month in New York on utility bills. That has nothing to do with the Middle East. That has nothing to do with Washington. That has everything to do with Albany. So yes, energy is critical.

34:18It's not just gasoline prices at the pump. It is utility costs. Now, I want to drive all of this down, which is why I want to increase production here in America. It's also why when you look at what happened with Venezuela and the removal of Maduro, guess what? Over a million barrels a day flowing from Venezuela to the United States of crude oil, the highest since 2017. Why? Because we eliminated Nicolas Maduro and got China out of Venezuela. And now you have cooperation on getting oil flowing. We should point out that the United States is already the largest producer of energy on the planet. I want to ask you about something that you mentioned previously.

34:59Right. And we should increase that production even further. You mentioned previously about Ukraine and the targeting of Russian energy infrastructure. You co-sponsored a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill, which President Trump has now sidestepped to import hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel from Russia. Some of your colleagues on Capitol Hill are suggesting that Trump is breaking the law, a law that you helped passed, that benefits Vladimir Putin and his war machine. Do you agree with them? So I've been very clear and I stated last week when asked about this, I do not support any deal with Russia.

35:40I think Vladimir Putin is a vile dictator and thug. I advocated for sanctions for four years. The Biden administration should have put secondary sanctions in place immediately upon Russia invading Ukraine. Europe should have stopped purchasing Russian gas immediately. On President Trump's decision to import Russia. I said very clearly. Yeah, I said very clearly. I don't support the deal. I don't support any effort to do that. The sanctions should be applied. We should not be getting anything from Russia. And not one penny should be going to Russia or Vladimir Putin. The sanctions regime needs to be applied.

36:21The sanctions regime needs to be applied against Russia and Iran, which is what we have been doing, which is why the secondary blockade has been put in place to stop the flow of oil from Iran to China. I want to ask you about the leader in cracking down on that. And we want to make sure that stays intact. Reuters is reporting tonight that the order to limit Ukraine's use of Elon Musk's Star Shield, which is vital for Ukraine's battlefield communications and drone operations against Russia, came from inside the White House. Two U.S. officials tell CNN the order to limit Star Shield for Ukraine did not come from President Trump himself.

36:57I wonder what your reaction is. Is that something that is acceptable in your view? No, it's not. And I think that decision should be reversed immediately. I support Ukraine. I've been very clear on that from the very beginning. We need to do everything we can to help them keep their structural sovereignty and not allow Russia to gain any more of a foothold. But this is also why, from the very beginning, the Biden administration should have equipped them with the weapons they needed. They should have allowed them to prosecute the war in Russian territory. Russia has gained about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory during this war.

37:41Nineteen percent of that land mass was accumulated during the Biden administration. About one percent has been accumulated during the Trump administration. Russia is losing up to 30 ,000 troops a month. The average lifespan of a frontline Russian soldier today is 17 minutes. 17 minutes. That's how insane this war is. It needs to come to an end. President Trump has been right about trying to get this war to come to an end. But we need to be very clear eyed about this. Russia, China and Iran are the axis of evil here. They are doing everything they can to undermine stability around the globe, economic growth and prosperity.

38:24And they are doing everything they can to undermine the United States. It has been over 20 months. We need to support Ukraine. And it's it has been over 20 months, Congressman, since President Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. And he vowed that if there wasn't some kind of ceasefire in weeks, Russia would pay the price. We're now again 20 months later and he is OKing a deal that would effectively get around the law that you pass to punish Russia. Congressman Mike Lawler, we'll leave the conversation there. We appreciate your time. Thank you. Up next, more details on that report that the order to limit a satellite system used by Ukraine reportedly came from inside the White House.

39:03My National Security and White House insiders are next.

39:30Thank you.

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40:08The breaking news tonight, Reuters reports that in order to slow down the Starshield satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drones came from inside the White House. Reuters sources didn't specify who in the White House made the decision or who was responsible for implementing the order. But yesterday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk pointed his finger at Trump. Quote, Star Shield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately POTUS. Tonight, two U.S. officials tell CNN that the order to limit Star Shield for Ukraine did not come from the president.

40:45My intelligence source tonight is Beth Sanner, former deputy national, former deputy director of national intelligence, along with my White House insider, Jeff Mason, White House correspondent for Bloomberg. Beth, what's your reaction to this reporting? I'm not surprised, given that no one really raised their hand over the last day or so about who was actually responsible. So, you know, I think that these reporters do really good reporting, and I think that it's probably true. And, you know, to me, this implication of this is, you know, it's following through in a way on the threat to cut them off of intelligence, threat to cut them off from selling weapons to the Europeans to give to them.

41:25And it has just serious implications, right? I mean it's not it's one thing to say like, oh I'm siding with Putin, right, which is clear, but it's another thing to literally make the Ukrainian military crippled in their capabilities to protect themselves, to defend themselves from the aggressor and you know people on the front lines you know could very well die from this Jeff who but the president would send this order to the Pentagon if it came from the White House but not directly from Trump I can't think of anyone else I mean I don't know who gave the order or you know the White House denied it to Bloomberg today as well as they did to CNN but I think what's important to think about right now and just put it and talk about is the context.

42:11And the context is the president is definitely in a tiff again, and that's not a strong enough word, with Zelensky and has been very critical of him in the last week or two and blames him for the fact that energy prices aren't coming down because he feels that Zelensky is not following up on what the president viewed as a deal to not attack energy resources in Russia. By the way, Russia is also not abiding by what President Trump has considered a deal, although they did agree to a deal on diesel, which again, to use the word context, is coming in the context of the midterm elections and the fact that high diesel prices are really hurting President Trump politically.

42:50So that's the universe in which this decision was made, even if we don't know exactly the details as to who made it or why. An energy ceasefire, we should point out, that President Trump announced apparently without either nation being aware that this is something that he was going to announce. Beth, to add additional context, Jeff, it also comes as CNN has learned that Ukraine has run out of Patriot interceptor missiles, a critical thing to have against the Russian air attacks. There's no sign that the U.S. at this point is going to send more, especially as Zelensky has been more critical than in the past of President Trump's deal with Russia for diesel and generally with President Trump.

43:30Let's listen to what he said to the Financial Times. Don't involve us to some diesel deals. If you ask us to help with the situation, of course, like the partners, we will help, but we're asking you, so energy ceasefire. If not energy ceasefire, it doesn't depend on you. Okay. The question, can you give me missiles for Patriot? Because when I will not attack them, because you asked me not attack them, they will attack me. What do you make of this different approach from Zelensky? Well, I mean, first, let me just clear up a few things about this, what this diesel deal and all this means. I mean, all of this is the other part of the context is this is intricately connected to the Iran war.

44:15The reason that the president wanted to do the diesel deal is to distract from the implications of the war, the disastrous war. And that is the main reason for diesel prices being high. The deal with Russia will provide less than a half of 1 % of global diesel demand, right? And so, you know, all of this is about distracting and moving the needle here and trying to change the conversation. And the fact is that, yep, on patriots, we're out. And the reason we're out is because we used up 61 % of our patriots during the Iran war. That's a fact. Jeff, the relationship between Trump and Zelensky, I mean, has fluctuated over and over again.

45:04This seems to be a repeat of what we saw in the Oval Office when J.D. Vance was asking whether Zelensky had said thank you, whether he was appreciative enough. And President Trump was saying, you don't hold any cards. We hold all the cards. Now it seems like he and Zelensky are at odds again. Yeah. And it's been like a sign curve. I mean, it certainly started off with that dramatic meeting that you were just referencing, Boris. And then they kind of came back together a little bit when the president ended up concluding that he wasn't getting everything he wanted from Putin either. But it's certainly been a tense one, and it's back to that point.

45:33Jeff Mason, Beth Sanner, thank you so much. Up next, the source code. Tonight,$3 ,500. We'll be right back with the story.

45:49Tonight's source code is$3 ,500. That's how much money one notable donor gave to Republican Senator Susan Collins're-election campaign, made public by her latest filing with the Federal Election Commission. So who is this donor? It may not have been a Texas-sized amount of campaign cash, but it is the maximum donation any individual can make, even for the retiree who noted his job was former president of the United States. That's right, the donation was made by President George W. Bush, whose family has deep ties to the state of Maine. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. CNN Newsnight with Abby Phillips starts right now.

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