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Pittsburgh Shooting Suspect Appearance in Court; Community Mourns Deaths in Synagogue Shooting; Trump Possibly Visits Pittsburgh; Bomb Suspect to Appear in Court; Package Addressed to CNN. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired October 29, 2018 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:00:11] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.

We start with two purveyor of hate set to come face-to-face with their fate today. We'll be watching two separate courtrooms at this hour, one in Florida, one in Pennsylvania, as the suspects in the heinous acts of hate face a judge for the first time. The suspect in the deadly Tree of Life Synagogue shooting there on the left of your screen, and on the right Cesar Sayoc, who was accused of sending pipe bombs to the president's political opponents.

Life goes on today in Pittsburgh with a very heavy heart as the community comes to grips with a truly horrific crime. Eleven people shot dead, victims of hate, killed as they worshiped Saturday morning in a synagogue targeted simply because of their religion. The suspect is expected to make his initial court appearance later today. He faces 29 federal counts in the shooting. That number could rise. Two other people wounded in the shooting are hospitalized. They're in critical condition right now. We're hoping for the best for them. Prosecutors plan to pursue the death penalty in this case.

Joining us now from Pittsburgh is our own Jessica Dean. She's been there since Saturday. She's over at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

Jessica, so what are you seeing there today?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Good afternoon to you, Wolf.

You see the Tree of Life right here behind us and the memorials that have gone up for the 11 lives lost on Saturday. This is right smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, which we've been talking about since Saturday. A very close-knit community. And we've seen that bear out today. We've seen people bringing flowers, greeting friends, hugging, just coming to pay their respects. And just kind of check in on each other. We've seen a lot of that as well.

And, of course, we're learning more about those 11 victims. People with personal relationships with them stopping by and, again, just trying to begin to kind of take all of this in, Wolf. It's just been overwhelming, I think, for a lot of people. And everyone trying to join together to make sure that love is the message that's getting out from Squirrel Hill.

BLITZER: I know you're getting some more information, Jessica, on the congregants wounded in the attack, police officers were wounded as well.

DEAN: That's right. So we know that two officers remain hospitalized by this morning. Two additional people also hospitalized. Of those four, one person was in critical condition that was inside and one of the officers remains in critical condition. So we have them getting treatment as we speak.

Then, of course, we're learning more about those 11 victims. All of them really deeply rooted in this community. All of them, of course, attending services on that Saturday morning. There was a married couple, the Simons, they were actually married here at Tree of Life in 1956. And their neighbor said that they were just people that often wanted to give back, that they were very active in the Jewish community.

We know there was another woman, 75-year-old Joyce Feinberg, that she was a former research specialist at the University of Pittsburgh here and was a grandmother and a mother. They said that she just simply lit up a room. That she was a small person, but her personality was big and she lit up a room. That she will certainly be missed. She was described also as warm and elegant.

We're also hearing about Dr. Rich, a local dentist, who had been practicing with his wife for years, Wolf. So, so many people that are so dearly missed here who were peacefully practicing their religion on Saturday when that gunman walked in.

BLITZER: And horrible, horrible situation indeed. Our hearts go out to their families and their friends.

Jessica, thank you very much.

Jessica Dean in Pittsburgh.

A very strong, sobering, yet hopeful message this morning coming from the Tree of Life synagogue's rabbi and the cantor (ph) as well, Jeffrey Myers. Listen to this.

RABBI HAZZAN JEFFREY MYERS, TREE OF LIKE SYNAGOGUE: I've experienced anti-Semitism my whole life in one form or another. I just never thought it could reach this level. That someone who would take into their own hands and make a decision that they needed to murder Jews. That concerns me, not just as a Jew, because it wasn't just an attack upon the Jewish community, this was an attack upon America.

This gunman made it clear that people anywhere that wish to worship need to be concerned because this challenged our freedom of worship. We are a tree of life. And as I've said before to many, you can cut off some branches from our tree, but Tree of Life has been in Pittsburgh for 154 years. We're not going anywhere. We will rebuild and we will be back stronger and better than ever. I will not let hate close down my building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Rabbi Myers now has to officiate at the funerals of his congregants there in Pittsburgh.

Joining us now from Pittsburgh is Adam Hertzman. He's the director of marketing for the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh.

[13:05:05] Adam, thank you so much for joining us. Our hearts go out to you and everyone else there.

You worship, I understand, at the Tree of Life Synagogue. First of all, what do you make of Rabbi Myers' message?

ADAM HERTZMAN, MARKETING DIRECTOR, JEWISH FEDERATION OF PITTSBURGH: You know, I think he -- Rabbi Myers is really saying the same thing that we're all thinking right now. We're mourning the victims, but really trying to come together as a community. And I think Pittsburgh has been a really safe community. I think it will continue to be despite this sort of random act of violence. But it's -- this event is really bringing us together even more.

BLITZER: The rabbi, Adam, said that protecting worshippers, while also being welcoming, is now a big question. How do you answer that? What will security look like at the synagogues, the Jewish Community Centers, the Jewish schools going forward in the Pittsburgh area?

HERTZMAN: You know, we've actually been working very closely on security. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, you may know, hired a community security director a little under two years ago and we've been working on the security in the buildings. We've been working with the community.

A lot of -- something that a lot of people don't realize is that even in the best of situations, sadly some of the people often first on the scene are the staff of these organizations and the members. And so the training is really designed to make sure that those people know what they're doing, God forbid that there's a situation like this.

BLITZER: And what do you say to those worshipers and others who now -- may now be afraid to go back into the synagogues in Pittsburgh?

HERTZMAN: I'd say the same thing I said a moment ago, which is, Pittsburgh was one of the safest cities in the United States in terms of our Jewish community. And I, in my heart of hearts, I believe it will continue to be one of the safest communities in the United States. This is sort of a random act of violence. Obviously we'll be looking at security measures in conjunction with the city of Pittsburgh, who has been terrific in their response to this. But I think people can really be rest assured that this is a safe community and that they'll be safe in the places that they worship.

BLITZER: I know you have a wonderful, very tightly knit Jewish community in Pittsburgh. How are the folks in your community coping right now? HERTZMAN: We're really still in shock. You know, myself, I'm just

having a hard time processing it. But I really have seen people come together and really have a better sense of community as a result of this.

The Jewish Federation has a fund for victims of terror. We've already seen 1,200 donations come in. People are coming out in support, not just from the Jewish community, but from all over Pittsburgh. It's been really heartwarming.

BLITZER: Adam Hertzman, thank you so much for joining us. Once again, our deepest, deepest condolences. It's an awful situation. Thanks so much.

HERTZMAN: I appreciate that. Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: All right, after the mass shooting in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida, President Trump visited victims and first responders in those communities, but some Jewish residents in Pittsburgh say, no thanks, at least not yet. They say the president isn't welcome until he publically denounces white nationalists hate speech.

Joining us now to discuss this and more, CNN legal analyst Michael Zeldin, our White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, and April Ryan, CNN's political analyst, the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks.

Kaitlan, has the White House formally said whether or not the president is heading to Pittsburgh?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They haven't. But President Trump has said he wants to go there. We know that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, not only his daughter and son-in-law, but also his senior advisers have urged him to go. They've said that he needs to make a trip there to make that show of support for this community. So likely we'll hear from Sarah Sanders at this briefing when he's going to go. I know they were planning on maybe tomorrow or Wednesday. They're just trying to figure out, when is the best time for him to go. But he is going to go. He said he wanted to go. We heard him denounce this act.

But this comes as -- amid, you know, behind the walls of the West Wing, there are questions about the president's behavior, questions about what -- how he should respond appropriately. And there's two things going on. One, there are White House aides in this White House telling the president, this is the time to be presidential and hear those calls, but they are frustrated by this borage of criticism they feel the president us unfairly receiving, these calls that -- from his critics saying that he's not responding appropriately to all of this.

BLITZER: You know, April, the president is looking for answers. Everybody's looking for answers. But look what the president tweeted today as far as responsibility for what's going on. He said this. There is great anger in our country caused in part by inaccurate and even fraudulent reporting of the news. Then he went on to say the media, and I'm quoting him now, is, quote, the true enemy of the people.

This is, obviously, the wrong message to be delivering at a sensitive time, accusing the news media of being the enemy of the American people. He said it before. But in the aftermath of this, in the aftermath of these bomb attacks, these bombs sent to a news organization, namely CNN, including a new discovery today, the president is tweeting once again about this.

[13:10:14] APRIL RYAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS: Well, as someone who is a target of the president's hate, what I can tell you is, is that this is reckless and it's not responsible from someone who is stirring a cauldron of hate. And you see the fumes landing in so many different places.

We saw this -- what happened in Pittsburgh before a couple of years ago at Mother Emmanuel Church. It's a sad day when people are gathering in their house of worship, moralistically and lovingly trying to worship their God and to be shot down because of a call, a code, what have you, a dog whistle.

The way I understand it, and what I'm hearing from my sources, is that the president has been in touch with Israeli leaders. They have warned him, do not make this a street fight. I've also been told that the president is laying low because he's hearing those calls.

But, at the same time, how do you marry the situation when the president last week says he's a nationalist? All he had to do is say white nationalist to that.

You know, we've seen this just before what happened with the bombs. We saw the Kroger in Kentucky, a white man shoot and kill two black people and then you got to the white person and say white people don't kill white people. And then you see what happened with this (INAUDIBLE). Again, a call to action of sorts. And now this. I mean it's not going to stop until this president stops these menacing tweets. He -- these tweets are a menace to society.

BLITZER: You know, Michael, the suspect in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, it's a mass murder, he's going to face a federal judge pretty soon later today. The president, over the weekend, was asking what he thought should happen to this guy. Listen to this.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And when you have crimes like this, whether it's this one or another one on another group, we have to bring back the death penalty. They have to pay the ultimate price.

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BLITZER: I should point out that the federal death penalty came back in 1988. Pennsylvania also has the death penalty.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. So I'm not exactly sure what he is speaking about. The changes that this fellow faces carry a death sentence. So there's no need to bring back something which presently exists. Whether the death penalty is ever a solution is a debatable point, but the president misses the point that these cases are death penalty-available cases.

He also, I think, misses -- to the conversation you just had with April, he misses the point that the tone at the top matters greatly. I spent 15 years in the private sector advising global financial institutions in times of crisis. And what we learned, and what all the literature tells you that the tone at the top matters, followed by actionable mid-market activity. And so we know, for example, after the church bombings in 1996 when they passed the Church Arson Protection Act, President Clinton instituted a task force to study this problem, to report back to him, to make findings so that he can address systemically solutions to this. This is what is needed here, not blame. There's enough blame to go around. But action -- tone at the top, followed by action, so that there could be solution.

BLITZER: Over the past year, and you know this, Kaitlan, as well as I do, a lot of the president's supporters and friends, admirers, have privately gone to him and say, Mr. President, you know, don't talk about the enemy of the people, the news media being the enemy of the people. Today he said the true enemy of the people and he blamed the news media for a lot of the tension that's going on right now. He rejects that and he doubles down.

I don't know if he realizes that there are nutty people out there, when they hear him say the news media is the true enemy of the American people, they say, well, if they're the enemy of the people, we've got to do something about that.

COLLINS: And those are the questions the White House is facing. As you saw today, Dana Bash interviewed the president's 2020 campaign manager asking about that e-mail that was sent out last week on the day that CNN had to evacuate the New York offices and she said, you sent out this e-mail that said that the media needed a wakeup call. And Brad Parscale said, that wasn't -- that didn't mean violence, saying a wakeup call could mean in total -- saying essentially the president had support and that the media didn't understand how many people supported the president.

And, Dana asked, well, what about the people who can't distinguish the difference between you saying a wakeup call means they need to realize how many people do support this president and his policies and how many people take that as an act of violence needs to be carried out against the media. And he said there's essentially nothing you can do about people like that, who feel that way. And that is just one small example of what we're seeing, the larger questions that the White House is facing. And aides have appealed to the president and told him that going after the media and attacking the media is not the best response, just in general, but also in the last two weeks with what we've seen.

[13:15:02] But the president believes this is a winning strategy for him. He thinks that it will appeal to his supporters. That they truly do feel he's treated unfairly by the media. And that's why we see them continue to point back to what percentage of the media coverage of the president is negative. You can bet Sarah Sanders will bring that up today during that press briefing. But whether or not that's accurate, that's what the White House doesn't feel like it's accurate. They just think it's negative.

RYAN: For telling the truth, we're fake. For telling the truth, we're fake.

BLITZER: Yes.

ZELDIN: Right. But when you look at causation, it's always tricky. But if you look at the words out of the mouth of the president and then the causal response and you look at the bomber and who he sent those pipe bombs to, three came to CNN, two for analysts and one to the network itself.

RYAN: And those are what we know.

ZELDIN: Right. So we see that there is a connection between words and actions. And if you don't understand that, you miss the point.

BLITZER: It's a very, very dangerous utterance that the president is continuing to make, doubling down. A very reckless statement as well. I would hope that he, you know, moves on, but clearly so far he has not. All right, guys, everybody stick around. There's much more to come this hour. But as we go to break, a reminder of the wonderful people we lost this weekend in Pittsburgh.

And let me just mention their names as we pay our respects. Joyce Feinberg. Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, David and Cecil Rosenthal, Sylvan and Bernie Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger. May they all rest in peace and may their blessing be a memory.

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[13:21:01] BLITZER: A serial bomb suspect heads to court next hour as federal authorities investigate another suspicious package addressed to CNN offices in Atlanta. CNN President Jeff Zucker says the package was intercepted in an Atlanta post office and there is no imminent danger to CNN Center in Atlanta. Last week, two apparent mail bombs addressed to the network's New York offices were discovered along with a dozen other devices sent to prominent Democrats critical of President Trump. Authorities say the package intercepted in Atlanta appears to be identical to the others and they believe it was sent by the mail bomb suspect, Cesar Sayoc. That would bring the total number of packages allegedly sent by him to 15. But officials say he also had a list of more than 100 people he intended to send packages to.

Sayoc makes his first court appearance at the top of the hour, faces federal charges and could get up to 48 years in prison if convicted.

Let's go to our correspondent Joe Johns outside the federal courthouse in Miami, where the hearing will take place.

Joe, give us a preview. JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is

expected to go pretty quickly. He's expected to be advised of his rights, advised of the complaint that's been filed against him in the southern District of New York. He's expected to be represented by a local attorney, a guy named James Benjamin, one of the named partners from a law firm north of here in Fort Lauderdale.

We do know the government wants to get Sayoc out of here. They want to move him to New York City where five of those packages were address. Also where that complaint was filed.

We also know there is substantial evidence that the government so far has put into the record. That would include soddering equipment they found inside his van, stamps, papers, printing equipment, some type of powder, all of which could play into this investigation, and most importantly perhaps for the prosecution. We also know authorities say they did find a fingerprint of Sayoc on one of the bombs that was sent to California Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: All right, Joe, thank you very much. We'll get back to you.

I want to get some more of the changes facing this bomb suspect and the suspicious package addressed to the CNN headquarters in Atlanta earlier in the day. Joining us now is our justice reporter, Evan Perez, and our CNN legal analyst, Laura Coates.

Evan, tell us a little bit more about what we know about this package sent to the CNN center in Atlanta.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the things that Jeff Zucker, the president of the network, said in a message to employees was that all packages that are addressed to CNN are now being taken, they're being screened at an off-site location before they get to any CNN buildings. So that's the reason why, in this case, there was no concern that there could be any harm to people at CNN.

Of course, Wolf, as you pointed out last week, there are plenty of other people who were put in danger with these types of events. People -- mail carriers, people who are handling these packages before they get to CNN, any of them could have been hurt. And the FBI is obviously taking this just as seriously as they took at all -- the 14 others. This is now, as you said, as you pointed out, the 15th believed package that is tied to the same person, Cesar Sayoc, and the FBI is now investigating to make sure, to see whether or not it contains the same type of device, whether it does trace back to him, as Joe Johns just was pointing out. They were able to connect the devices that they found last week to some of his DNA, they alleged, some of his DNA was found on at least two of these pipe bombs and his fingerprint was obviously found on at least one of them. And this, obviously, made the police work a lot easier for them because it turns out that he has a rap sheet a mile long in the state of Florida and they were able to match that up with some of the stuff that he had done before.

BLITZER: And, very quickly, they found a -- what, a hit list of about 100 names, also that he was intending to send out these kinds of improvised explosive devices?

[13:25:04] PEREZ: Right. We've learned today that he had a hit list of about 100 people, more than 100 people, 100 names long, that he was intending to work through. And this is why on Friday, even after he was arrested, one of the things we kept hearing from law enforcement was the concern that there might be additional packages. Obviously I think the last one they believe he sent out was on Thursday. So it takes a few days for that to work through the system.

BLITZER: And I know the FBI is notifying these individuals who are on this hit list out of an abundance of caution.

You know, Laura, walk us through the procedure. He's about to face a federal judge. He's facing a lot of charges. Tell us about that.

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you'll first have him go before the judge, because he has due process rights still, although their -- the crime is pretty apparent and the evidence against him pretty compelling at this point, particularly with that fingerprint evidence. You still have to go before a judge and have the charges read to you. Expect to have more charges be brought now that more packages are being found, however. But at the moment, he'll have them read to him. He will plead guilty or not guilty. They'll ask him -- figure out where he needs to stay. Will he be released pending his trial? He will not be. Will he remain in Florida or will he go to the SDNY, where five of those packages went. And they have jurisdiction over the crimes that occurred in their jurisdiction.

BLITZER: The Southern District of New York.

COATES: Exactly, which is very, very well versed in terrorism. They had, of course, the Chelsea bombings, the embassy bombings, the World Trade Center bombings. They have a lot of experience with terrorism happening in the SDNY, of course, so they're very well equipped for it. So he will have a very short hearing, frankly. It's really a procedural-based one, figuring out what charges they'll have initially. They will probably expand and whether he will be charged and tried in Florida or in New York or anywhere else the packages may have arrived or are going to.

BLITZER: And they're learning more about this guy, his the white supremacy, social media, his anti-Semitism. We're talking about Sayoc, the guy down in Florida. This was quite a character.

PEREZ: Oh, no, he was quite a character and he made clear what his -- where his leanings were. He was very active on social media. He had multiple social media accounts that he was using often to retweet and to send out memes that he saw in the right wing media.

And so, as you said, for everyone to see when the FBI arrested him on Friday, in -- right next to the van where he seemed to have been living, you can see on the van plainly the messages that he had, including the "CNN sucks" and all of that stuff.

BLITZER: Yes, that's -- COATES: You know, by the way, the charges have nothing to do with him intending to harm anyone. The courts don't care that nothing actually came of the explosive devices. The fact that he tries is going to be enough to have federal charges, and very serious ones, transported through the mail.

BLITZER: All right, Laura and Evan, guys, thank you very much. The brutality and anti-Semitism which unfolded in Pittsburgh this weekend as Jews in the United States, indeed around the world sounding an alarm over the growing threat from anti-Semitism. We're going to discuss this and more. The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, is standing by live.

And, later, a political stunner in Brazil. The far right candidate, who's often compared to Donald Trump, wins big at the polls and will be the country's next president. What does it mean for Brazil? What does it mean for the world?

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