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At This Hour

Pence Leaves NFL Games After 49ners Kneel; EPA Chief Overturning Obama-era Rule on Greenhouse Gases & Climate Change; New Details on Vegas Killer's Mindset; Google: Russia Used Gmail, YouTube to Meddle in Election; More Cryptic Messages from Trump on North Korea. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired October 09, 2017 - 11:30   ET

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


[11:30:00] PARIS DENNARD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's why Jerry Jones has said, if you do it you're going to leave.

(CROSSSTALK)

DENNARD: Go ahead, Marc, take the last word.

(CROSSTALK)

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, again, the issue here, --

(CROSSTALK)

LAMONT HILL: The issue here, the issue here is that you don't get to decide the meaning of other people's protests, number one. And number two, you don't get to decide other peoples' patriotism. And it's -- I find it that the height of arrogance for - particularly, for the president, but or any white person to tell black people being oppressed, your protest doesn't mean what you think it means or you're not patriotic because you are somehow challenging white supremacy and challenging violence. They don't get to decide that. It's not disrespectful to a flag to kneel any more than it's disrespectful to have a bus boycott or bridge -- to set on the Pettis Bridge for the Voting Rights Act. These are spectacles designed to draw attention to something. That's what this is about. Not the flag. The height of disrespect of the flag and anthem is Mike Pence using it as a stunt proper as opposed to what is really for from the highest ideals of the country what the players are trying do taking a knee and calling America to be as good as its democratic promise.

BOLDUAN: In the end, this will come as no -- this won't make anybody feel unified but a win-win for everybody. Folks who don't like what they saw from Mike Pence see a stunt. And the president and Mike Pence can say they are standing up for the flag. And that's what this issue is. It's not -- it's doing nothing to -- what it is becoming doing nothing to unify only to divide, it seems, further.

Marc, Paris, thank you, guys.

DENNARD: Thanks.

LAMONT HILL: Happy

(CROSSTALK)

LAMONG HILL: -- people's day.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Marc.

This is just in to CNN. EPA Chief Scott Pruitt announcing the agency will overturn a major environmental rule from an Obama-era rule dealing with greenhouse gases and climate change.

Let's go over to Joe Johns right now. He has much more on this.

This just coming in. Joe, what do we know?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this was one of the big ideas on environmental policy from the Obama administration. There's been no secret that President Trump has intended to roll back these rules.

Now, one of the things we're hearing is that Scott Pruitt has now said, in Hazard, Kentucky, that he plans to sign a proposed rule that would roll back the Obama-era policy. It's also clear that there will be a comment period and an opportunity for individuals to put in suggestions on how and whether to put certain rules in their place.

The significance of this, among other things, is that Scott Pruitt made this announcement in the heart of coal country. These rules have been a huge issue there for people whose livelihoods depend on the mining and selling of coal. So, Scott Pruitt making that announcement, expected to sign that proposed rule very soon. And onward, to see whether the administration puts anything in its place at all or just leaves it abolished if you will.

Back to you -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: More Obama-era regulations being rolled back or path forward that way.

Great to see you, Joe. Thanks so much.

Coming up for us, a CNN exclusive. New details on the killer behind the massacre in Las Vegas. In his own words, he describes his battle with anxiety, million-dollar a night gambling habit. What does it mean for those still recovering from their loss? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:37:23] BOLDUAN: CNN has exclusive new insight into the mind of the Las Vegas shooter. New court documents laying out the killer describing himself in his own words, his anxiety, gambling, and more.

CNN's Scott McLean is in Vegas with the details with much more on this.

Scott, what are we learning? SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate. So, really, this is the

first time that we're hearing from this suspect in his own words. As you mentioned, it comes in the form of a court deposition taken in 2013. This was part of a civil lawsuit that Stephen Paddock had filed against the Cosmopolitan hotel for a slip and fall that he had prior to that. In that deposition, he calls himself the biggest video poker player in the world, saying that he would stay up all night long, sleep all day, and gamble up to $1 million in a single night. He also said that he was described valium by a doctor that he had essentially on retainer he would pay an annual fee for. That valium, he said, was for, quote, "anxiousness." At one point, he even described what he wore. His typical outfit for going into the casino and playing video poker, which was black sweat pants and flip flops. If you're wondering about the outcome of that civil case, an independent arbitrator actually ruled in favor of the hotel.

One other thing to point out about his mental health. In that deposition, he was asked several times whether he had any mental health issues, history of mental health issues, in his family, and repeatedly he said no.

We're also learning today from the "Las Vegas Review Journal," Kate, that Stephen Paddock's brother, Eric, is in Las Vegas. The moment he stepped off the plane at McCarren Airport, he was interviewed by investigators for about four hours. He said he's here to deal with his brother's remains. But to help investigators, to try to help them get inside the mindset of his brother and also make sure that they don't chase down any bad leads -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right. Scott, thank you so much with new details coming in. Appreciate it.

Joining me now for more, Katherine Schweit, a former senior FBI official who studied active-shooter incidents for the FBI, and Jonathan Wackrow, a CNN law enforcement analyst, former Secret Service agent.

Thank you for being here.

Katherine, they're still looking for motive at the core of this investigation, right, looking for motive. When you were at the FBI you studied more than a dozen years of shootings in America, mass shootings. Do you leave open the possibility they won't find one?

KATHERINE SCHWEIT, FORMER SENIOR FBI OFFICIAL: I think it's not a question so much of they won't find one, I think it's a question of, how quickly they'll find it. People are -- I appreciate that people are impatient but you have to appreciate that what we're looking for is a way to piece back a whole lifetime of what led a person to this. He was clearly a person who had a brittleness to him, where he wasn't able to deal with -- in the same way you and I might deal with our coping mechanisms for frustrations. And that's what they're going to try to piece together. This deposition is a tremendously valuable piece of information to help us to figure out what that history is.

[11:40:29] BOLDUAN: And that "brittleness" is a good word that I hadn't thought to use yet, Katherine.

Jonathan, but when people think of, OK, a lot of people are brittle, a lot of people have anxiety, not a lot of people are going to commit the large mass shooting in modern U.S. history. So what -- where does that leave folks? I don't know if you call it an unsatisfying motive or just not --

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Listen, you know, through this investigation more and more is coming out and it is a disturbing trend here, it's angles and accuracy. So the more that we look at, you know, what investigators are looking at. Look at the weapons systems. The weapons systems had optics on top to help him focus in his fire. We know that, through reporting, he was trying to obtain tracer rounds. Again, an accuracy issue. The note left in the room. Angles, you know, bullet trajectory. He was somebody that was really focused on attacking that site in a concentrated area. You know, I'm thinking that there's a motive behind that. No one goes into this type of attack without a motive. These facts that are now coming out, you know, start painting a picture that, you know, he wanted to really get somebody in the core of that crowd, and I think that, you know, that will be the tell as this investigation moves on.

BOLDUAN: And the investigators are methodically working to try to figure it out.

WACKROW: That's right.

BOLDUAN: Katherine, "60 Minutes" had a powerful interview with a group of first responders, those who made it first to the hotel room, to the 32nd floor. I want to play just a bit of it, how they described some of what they came upon. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: He had screwed shut the door with a piece of metal and screws --

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: In the stairwell.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: -- in the stairwell going out to the hallway by his door.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: He knew we would be coming out that door to gain entry into his door. He tried to barricade it as best as he could. Thankfully, Levi had a pry bar and was able to easily pop that door.

UNIDENTIFIED "60 MINUTES" REPORTER: The K9 cops, detective, and the SWAT officer now were a team.

(on camera): So essentially, you became the SWAT team.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Uh-huh.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Pretty much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Katherine, it was 12 minutes from the start of the shooting to when first -- the first officers arrived on the 32nd floor. From your study and time at the FBI, what do you make of the response from --

SCHWEIT: Impressive.

BOLDUAN: -- from first responders?

SCHWEIT: It's an impressive response, and not unexpected. The Las Vegas M. P.D. the sheriff's team at metro is very well trained in this. And I think as we all probably have come to recognize, that post-Columbine, there was a concerted effort in the United States to train our law enforcement officers to make sure that, whoever showed up, that was the team. So we don't need a SWAT team. We need the officers who show up to understand what each other is going to do and to go aggressively to the shoot. To get up to that floor, in 12 minutes, very impressive.

BOLDUAN: All right. Katherine, Jonathan, thank you so much. I appreciate it. The investigation continues.

Coming up for us, a stunning new report on Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election. For the first time, Google has found evidence that Russian actors used its platform, including Gmail and YouTube, to interview. The reporter who broke this story joining me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:46:09] BOLDUAN: New evidence Russia's meddling in the 2016 election went beyond Facebook and Twitter to the world's largest on- line advertising business, Google. And not just the search engine. Also, YouTube and Gmail, but even the company's double-click ad network. "The Washington Post" broke the story this morning.

Joining me one of the reporters behind that report, Adam Entous, a CNN contributor.

Great to see you, Adam. Great reporting.

ADAM ENTOUS, REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Like Facebook, Google's first reaction was there wasn't a problem on their platform. Now that's changing. Do we know how big of a problem this is for Google?

ENTOUS: No, I think, at this point, frankly, we don't know how big the problem is for all these companies. But it's very clear that Russians were being extremely sophisticated in deciding how to take advantage of our advertising ecosystem so that they could direct their ads to the people they wanted to direct these ads to. And so Google is the latest, but I think it's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how broad this effort was.

BOLDUAN: Some of the new details coming out on the Facebook side has been some of the content of the ads, where those ads were targeted. Do we know any of that information about -- for Google?

ENTOUS: Well, we have a little bit of detail. For example, we know that there were promotional ads for other candidates besides Hillary Clinton. So Trump, Sanders, Stein. They were clearly pushing alternatives to Hillary Clinton.

In terms of the kind of fueling the culture wars, which what is we saw when we look closely at the Facebook ads --

BOLDUAN: Right.

ENTOUS: -- we're assuming it's going to be similar, but we actually don't have those details yet.

I think what's very clear is that these companies, all of them, are just starting to come to grips with this problem. And the dollar figures associated with these ads is -- may very well be a gross understatement of how much is involved here. They just don't have any information on which to do their searches. The U.S. government is not providing them with information that is collected by U.S. intelligence agencies, which could help them fine-tune their estimates. So until that happens, and, frankly, even after that happens, we may not be getting a full picture.

BOLDUAN: And your report is that there's also evidence it's not the same -- when it comes to Google, it's not the same Russian troll farm behind Google's ads as the one connected to the Facebook ads. What do you think that means?

ENTOUS: Well, what happened here is that, you know, what Facebook did was it identified a troll farm that was out there publicly known that Facebook knew about, and from looking at that one location, they were able to identify the 470 accounts and pages. Twitter then used those same accounts in order to do their analysis. Excuse me. Google decided to take a different approach. They didn't look at the 470 that Facebook had identified from that one single troll farm. What they decided to do was look through Twitter data that they had to look for suspicious accounts, which is how they got their estimate. But again, this is really cursory. They really don't have enough information yet to really get a full picture of what we're dealing with.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And just the tip of the iceberg, as you mentioned. Twitter, Facebook, they're going to be testifying next month. Let's see if Google joins in on that.

Adam, great to see you. Great reporting. Thank you so much.

ENTOUS: Thank you.

[11:49:32] BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, the president's new cryptic warning for North Korea after saying only one thing will work with Pyongyang. What exactly is the president threatening? What is the president even saying? How will North Korea respond? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: President Trump firing off about North Korea again this morning. Writing on Twitter the following: "Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars and getting nothing. Policy didn't work."

This comes after more cryptic tweets over the weekend where the president said that only one thing will work with Pyongyang. So far, we don't know exactly what that is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's the one thing that will work with North Korea?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You'll figure that out pretty soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The latest version of, "You will see, believe me."

Let's bring in CNN's Will Ripley. He's spent quite a lot of time reporting on the ground in North Korea. He's joining me now from Tokyo.

It's great to see you, Will.

This all -- this was all weekend and continued into this morning. Oh, yes, and it was last weekend as well that the president was firing off about North Korea. How are North Koreans receiving this vague, but consistent threat from the president?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I've been having conversation with the North Koreans, because, remember, they're also hearing from the State Department and the defense secretary that this is a diplomatic push, that the United States is talking with North Korea, that there are channels open. And yet, North Koreans are telling me channels haven't been activated and they see no point to have discussions right now with the Trump administration because you have this bellicose rhetoric coming from the top from the president. Then the secretary of state saying, actually, we want to negotiate. What are they supposed to think? They are saying to me that sitting at the diplomatic table wouldn't result in anything, a deal they could rely on because, even if a deal were negotiated, they're not convinced President Trump would follow through on it. So you have North Koreans frustrated with the mixed messaging, confused, trying to get answers.

Certainly, leaders around the region are very nervous that this could lead to an accidental war that would be far more catastrophic to people in this region than elsewhere.

And then you have this reshuffle of the North Korean elite. You have Kim Jong-Un promoting his younger sister and foreign minister to these major roles in the top decision-making body. The foreign minister is the one who threatened to detonate a nuclear bomb over the Pacific and also called President Trump president evil. So if you think he's surrounding himself with advisors who are sympathetic to the United States, think again. It's hardliners surrounding Kim Jong-Un right now -- Kate?

[11:55:57] BOLDUAN: A lot of messages being sent and, just, nuclear war at stake.

Will, great to see you. Thank you so much.

Coming up for us, the president -- the president's growing war of words with a powerful Senator from his own party. How does this back and forth help the president's agenda? Someone, please explain. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)