Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Police Search for Motive Behind Shootings; President Obama Talks About Gun Control Before Mass Shootings; Inspector General Says Some Clinton Emails Had Classified Info; 1.4 Million Hackable Cars Recalled by Chrysler. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired July 24, 2015 - 16:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:30:00] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The idea of soft targets is really the focus here, not just movie theaters. The idea that there are so many places.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soft targets in general. We're talking about shopping centers or schools or sporting events, it's just that movie theaters are where all those factors we cited are uniquely problematic in so many ways.

TAPPER: All right, thank you so much, Tom Foreman.

The Lafayette movie murders leave us with the same disturbing questions we ask after other mass shootings, which we cover far too often. Mainly why? I mean, what would motivate a person to go into a theater and start shooting.

Joining me now Ron Hosko former assistant director of the FBI criminal investigation division and president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund.

Ron, is there a general profile of these mass shooters?

RON HOSKO, FMR. ASST. DIR. FBI CRIMINAL INVESTATIONS DIVISION: Well, almost exclusively these mass shooters are single males doing this.

TAPPER: White males usually.

HOSKO: Frequently white males, almost exclusively male, one shooter, not two, not multiple. You see these intersections with mental health issues repeatedly. We saw it in Virginia Tech. We saw it here in D.C. Navy yard. We've seen it with Jared Loughner. We've seen it in Aurora, in Sandy Hook. So you see that woven throughout this issue that we face as a country.

TAPPER: Sometimes these mental health issues emerge when somebody is in their late teens or 20s. This shooter was in his 50s. Is that older than the norm?

HOSKO: Well, I think that tends to be older than the normal, than commonly accepted active shooter, but the challenge of this is -- and I was listening to some of your earlier coverage, mental illness manifests itself in many ways. It manifests itself in ways that are obvious one day and not so obvious the next.

Before we, a relative, a friend, a family member or law enforcement can take action, you can encourage, you can coax, but you cannot involuntary commit. It takes certain steps to involuntary commit --

TAPPER: Well, this woman did. I mean, his ex-wife did involuntary commit him in 2008.

HOSKO: That's right, and we have a system that is designed to treat you and put you back out on the street. And if you tumble back down and nobody picks you back up, then you're facing a very similar challenge that you may have faced before.

TAPPER: I'm trying to figure out where the FBI -- what the investigators are thinking right now.

What do you make of the fact that wigs and apparent disguises were found in his motel room and the fact that he had apparently swapped license plates on his car?

HOSKO: Yes, to me that clearly suggests he was looking at this as a way to get away. He thought he had an out. In fact he had left and apparently went outside, and saw the police coming, reloaded, went back in and took his own life.

It's common that active shooters take their own life. In fact, about 40 percent of the time, within an FBI survey, a study, 40 percent of those active shooters took their own life. 60 percent of these events occurred and concluded before the police arrived. So here you have to look at and credit the valor of these police officers.

When that active shooter call goes out, and we saw it here in the Navy yard just a few months ago, within a month, this very aggressive response from the law enforcement community. These police officers know what they have to do. It is a grim task. It shows incredible bravely. We saw it in Chattanooga.

TAPPER: Right into the line of fire.

HOSKO: We've seen it in other places where as you are relying on your training, and the tactics that you learned, and trying to see who was with you, you're wondering whether you're going to make it through this encounter and go home at the end of your shift. Some will not. So we see incredible bravery by the police officers and this training, and the FBI ramped up the training effort over the last three years, to train thousands of local law enforcement.

TAPPER: Thanks for the insight. Ron Hosko, really appreciate it.

More now on our national lead. Just last night, President Obama said that it remains one of his biggest frustrations. He has cried, he has scolded, he has pleaded for lawmakers to try to do something, anything to try to make it difficult, more difficult to buy guns, especially if you are mentally ill. What is his plan to change gun laws? Does he have one? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:38:28] TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

"The National Lead," we've heard President Obama talk about tougher restrictions on gun purchases. This time was different. Just hours before, another gunman went on another rampage, President Obama called the country's failure to pass stricter gun laws one of his biggest frustrations.

In fact, over the years, we have seen the president go from avoiding any action on the issue to visibly crying and motivated to try to do something after the Sandy Hook shootings, to his current state which seems to be frustration expressed in an interview with BBC, which came coincidentally just minutes before the gunman stood up in that Lafayette theater last night and opened fire.

Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is travelling with President Obama today in Kenya.

Jim, Congress does not agree with President Obama on this issue. Does he seem resigned to this being an area where he just won't get what he wants?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think that's the big question, Jake, whether or not this latest attack has changed his calculus on this issue.

You're right, President Obama has landed on Nairobi, returning to his father's homeland in Kenya for a trip that was supposed to be a chance to get back in touch with his roots. Unfortunately for the president, he will undoubtedly be faced with questions once again about gun violence in the U.S. as that movie theater mass shooting in Louisiana has forced the issue back into the spotlight.

Even before he touched down in Kenya, the president was briefed on the situation in Louisiana by his homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco. The president as you said, Jake, had given up on gun control after efforts for new restrictions on firearms failed in Congress. But as you said, right before this latest rampaged happened, the third mass shooting in less than two months, the president talked about his frustrations, called it his greatest frustration since being president in this interview with the BBC. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[16:40:10] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I've been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient commonsense gun safety laws even in the face of repeated mass killings. For us not to be able to resolve that issue has been something that is distressing but it is not something that I intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Although the White House is all but determine that new gun control measures will not happen during President Obama's remaining time in office, as one official recently told me, they understand the political realities up on Capitol Hill and the votes simply are not there.

We should point out, Jake, we are here in Nairobi. And just to paint the picture of the scene here, scores of Kenyans were on the streets earlier this evening to welcome the president back to Kenya. His half-sister was among those greeting him at the airport and later on the evening he had dinner with relatives here in Nairobi as he is getting back in touch with his roots. He'll give a major address to the African people on Sunday, where he's expected to talk about that very unique African heritage.

Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Jim Acosta, thank you so much.

In our "Politics Lead," the case of the Clinton e-mails takes quite a turn. Intelligence investigators say the former secretary of state sent classified information in e-mails over her private server. The big question, did she know that the information she was sending was classified?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:45] TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Topping our "Politics Lead" today, if Hillary Clinton hoped that Donald Trump and Trump-a-palooza would wipe the proverbial server clean on questions about her e-mails as secretary of state, well, the Intelligence Community inspector general may have just put an end to that. An internal government review found that the democratic presidential frontrunner sent at least four e-mails containing classified information from her personal account while leading the State Department.

Let's bring in CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott.

Now, Elise, this information contradicts what Clinton said in March, but there is also some nuance here, some questions of what she knew and when she knew it.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, in March, Clinton said that she never e-mailed any classified material, and technically that is true. But now the intelligence community has had a chance to review some of her e-mails. They are saying some of that material should have been treated as classified. And it's sparking a tug-of-war with the State Department.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT (voice-over): New disclosures from the Intelligence Community. The inspector general saying e-mails on Hillary Clinton's private server contained classified information. Their review of just 40 of 30,000 e-mails Secretary Clinton turned over, found four of them had classified information. At least one inadvertently released to the public.

Inspector general's office telling CNN they were, quote, "Classified when they were sent and are classified now." The problem the information was never classified by the State Department. And Clinton may have not known she was handling information that should have remained on a secure system.

Now the inspector general for the Intelligence Community has asked the justice department to investigate whether classified material has been compromised.

(on-camera): It seems like they're making a larger criticism of the way the state department handles classified materials.

MARK TONER, STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: Again I'd refer you to the Department of Justice.

LABOTT: You're saying that you compromised classified material.

TONER: But we have had a very rigorous process internally, and frankly sharing with other agencies when their equities are involved in clearing these emails.

LABOTT (voice-over): Clinton had long said she handled all information properly while using her private account.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did not e-mail any classified material to anyone on my e-mail. There is no classified material.

LABOTT: And while she may not be the target of the latest probe about her e-mail server, the controversy has dogged her presidential campaign and bit of a distraction on the trail, including today --

CLINTON: There have been a lot of inaccuracies. Maybe the heat is getting to everybody.

LABOTT: Where she renewed an offer to testify before Congress.

CLINTON: We are all accountable to the American people to get the facts right. And I will do my part.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT: The inspector general of the intelligence community said there are potentially hundreds of other e-mails that could have classified information. Clinton's spokesman Nick Merrill emphasizing once again today Clinton followed, quote, "appropriate practices in dealing with classified materials," Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Complicated and confusing.

LABOTT: Very complicated.

TAPPER: Elise, thanks so much.

Joining me to talk about this and other political news today are CNN political commentators, Dan Pfeiffer and S.E. Cupp.

Thank you both for this encore performance. Really --

(LAUGHTER)

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let's take this show on the road.

TAPPER: Really appreciate it.

(CROSSTALK)

DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: (INAUDIBLE), right?

TAPPER: No. S.E., do voters care about this? Do they understand this? Is this important politically? It might be important as a principle, but is it important politically?

CUPP: You know, I think when you look at this in sort of the (INAUDIBLE) of the number of episodes, they all are united by the fact that Hillary Clinton seems to have put herself ahead of national security.

You know, I don't have to tell Dan, the Obama administration was very concerned about having Hillary Clinton work at the State Department and that CGI, people like Sydney Blumenthal involved in state business. So they work very hard to keep those parameters clear. And it looks like she kind of just didn't care. And the same is the case with these e-mails.

She was not supposed to be sending classified information if it was coming from an unprotected server. She may have done that. And so I think what voters care about is this very sort of, you know, deep commitment on the part of Hillary Clinton. She's sort of doing her own thing, flout the rules, even when matters of national security are at heart there. That should be deeply troubling.

[16:50:14] TAPPER: But once again, Dan, it seems like the best friend that the Clintons have is Republicans overreacting, overreaching. This story is without question problematic.

PFEIFFER: Right.

TAPPER: But it was initially reported, likely leaked, from a Republican, in an over-inflamed way it turned out not to be true, enabling Hillary Clinton to swat it away.

PFEIFFER: Well, I think, there's couple of things about this. One, I'm pretty confident that, you know, 16 months from now when voters go into the booth, they're not going to think about e-mail protocol as it matters, right. That's not going to be something they'll think about.

And, you know, nothing that has ever happened in July of the off-year has mattered in the general election. I think what you can take from this is two things. One, this is a short-term problem in the Clinton campaign. Most notably in the footage you just showed, which is she was getting an important speech today about something they work hard on, an important message, and all aim is going to be about is the e- mail scandal.

What it also does is, I think it show once again what is happening on The Hill with Republicans is essentially a partisan witch hunt. It's not serious -- it's not about anything other than trying to win the election.

CUPP: I think it's worth pointing out that we are all talking about it notably because "The New York Times" changed their headline, their lead and the link to this story --

PFEIFFER: Backing off from it.

CUPP: Because Hillary asked them to. "The New York Times" re- published the Pentagon papers against the will of Richard Nixon and had to go to the Supreme Court to do it. It is not "The New York Times" that changed their headline back.

TAPPER: But they do that because they backed down or because they got it wrong, initially?

CUPP: No, the story was factually true. She didn't like or her campaign did not like the way it made Hillary sound within a single sentence that they then changed. That should be deeply disturbing. Hillary Clinton isn't even the president yet, and that's how much influence she has.

PFEIFFER: I can promise you that "The New York Times," CNN doesn't change a lot of headlines even when the president asked. They got it wrong here. And Elijah Cummings has talked to the state department's inspector general, everything that they have said has turned out not to be right. They were wrong, because they relied on partisan Capitol sources.

This has happened -- many times it has happened to us. In the Benghazi investigation, where the ISSA committee leaked information that was incorrect about the talking points and ABC News at the time had to walk it back.

TAPPER: Let's turn quickly to the Clinton's economic speech. Let's play some of what she had to say earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Today, we face a choice between the future and the past. The Republicans running for president seem totally unconcerned about the problem of quarterly capitalism. In fact, their policies would make it worse. They would wipe out the new rules on Wall Street imposed after the crisis, and of course they further stripped worker rights and weakened bargaining power.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: S.E.?

CUPP: Is quarterly capitalism the new sexy thing and I'm not aware?

PFEIFFER: It is now.

CUPP: Really? I mean, is this really what middle-class voters care about? I don't know. This is I guess her hook to say I'm one of you now, I have left Wall Street behind me, but it just doesn't seem like the thing that is going to grab voters.

TAPPER: Very quickly, is this going to appease the left wing that is skeptical of her?

PFEIFFER: Yes. I think what she's doing here is she's doing something right. She's taking a strong stand against something that voters of both parties are concerned about, which is excess on Wall Street. It's an important message.

You know, whether quarterly capitalism is coming on a bumper sticker in November, I don't know, but this is a comparative advantage in her with the Republicans. She's going to be tougher on Wall Street than anyone the Republican puts up, and that's good for her.

TAPPER: If not necessarily tougher than Bernie Sanders.

Dan Pfeiffer and S.E. Cupp, thank you so much. Have a great weekend. Be sure to tune in for my interview with Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Governor Rick Perry on "State of the Union" Sunday morning, 9:00 Eastern, also at noon.

Coming up, who is controlling your car? A recall from a major manufacturer after a magazine investigation uncovers some scary stuff. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:58:30] TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Our "Money Lead" now. 1.4 million. That's how many vehicles Chrysler is recalling today after it was revealed that the cars can be remotely hacked over the internet. Hackers can cut the breaks, shut down the engine, drive it off the road or make electronics go haywire all from the comfort of their own home or local Starbucks.

But despite offering a software update that customers could install earlier this week, Chrysler has now opted to issue a formal recall. The vehicles involved all have the 8.4-inch touch screens which are installed in the range of their cars from Dodge Vipers to Jeep Grand Cherokees.

First it was the undo button, the G-mail feature that allows you to undo that email to your ex, but only if you come to your senses within 30 seconds of sending it. But now a new Google Chrome extension called D-mail allows you to revoke your e-mails at anytime. Senders can also set a predetermined time for the message to self- destruct, like in an hour or a week, so kind of like Snap Chat. Plus D-mail claims they will soon unlock a feature, where forwarding will be disabled. So your ex can't forward your e-mail to all her friends. Interesting.

Remember, you can watch THE LEAD anytime live or on demand on your desktop, cell phone or tablet.

Don't miss my interview with Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry this Sunday at 9:00 a.m. and noon eastern on "State of the Union."

That is it for THE LEAD. I am Jake Tapper. I'm turning it over now to Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room." Have a great weekend.