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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Exclusive: NYPD Bodycam Video From Inside Hamilton Hall On Columbia Univ. Campus As Police Arrested Protesters; UCLA Chancellor's Office Will Investigate Violence On Campus Tuesday Night "That May Lead To Arrests, Expulsions And Dismissals"; Trump Returns To Campaign Trail For First Time Since Hush Money Trial Begins; Which Candidate Do Voters Prefer On Top Issues?; Greene Absolutely Calling For Vote Next Week To Oust Speaker Johnson; NYPD Says At Least 15 Protesters Arrested At Fordham University's Manhattan Campus; IDF On Deadly Gaza Airstrike That Killed 10 Children Says That The Collateral Damage As Described In The Query Is Not Known. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired May 01, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
OKSANA MARKAROVA, UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: But the work is not over with this. It actually just begins and we have to turn it as soon as possible into air defense and all the needed capabilities in order to be able to get them to Ukraine as soon as possible.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Ambassador Markarova, thank you very much for your time tonight.
MARKAROVA: Thank you.
BURNETT: And thanks so much to all of you for joining us, AC360 starts now.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360 bodycam footage, you'll see first on 360, of New York Police moving in on protesters at Columbia University. That and new details from CNN's Julia Vargas Jones, who brought us exclusive reporting last night from campus as it all went down.
Also tonight, live reports from coast to coast as protests spread to more schools with communities and police struggling over how to respond.
And with his trial in recess today, the former president goes campaigning, trying to make student unrest a voting issue.
Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
We begin again tonight with the latest from university campuses nationwide, where in just the last 24 hours, hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested, the LionSHARE at New York's Columbia University late last night.
Last night, we brought you an exclusive look as it happened from CNN's Julia Vargas Jones and her photographer, who were the only television crew broadcasting live from campus.
Now tonight, another exclusive. CNN's John Miller himself, a former New York deputy police commissioner, is the first and only reporter to obtain NYPD bodycam video from officers as they carried out the operation last night, he joins us now.
So I haven't seen the video. Tell us about it.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, we've been talking for the past 24 hours about, according to Columbia University's president, a protester snuck into the building and then hid there till after the building was closed and then covertly let in dozens of other people who then took over the building, barricaded it with an elaborate network and layers of debris and furniture and chains and locks, and bicycle locks and smashed all the security cameras.
So, police, to retake that building, really had their work cut out for them and this is their video from their bodycam of going into Hamilton Hall.
COOPER: Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILLER (voice over): The retaking of Hamilton Hall by the NYPD. At the front door, students singing a protest song.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What? Right ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... this is too right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER (voice over): The first layer, a tangle of barricades. Metal tables and chairs stacked and tied to the doorway outside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER (voice over): Police break a window. Through a vestibule, more furniture and debris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MILLER (voice over): The door, chained shut. Police use a high- powered electric saw. Then a hydraulic tool, the jaws of life, in an attempt to breach the door. But it wouldn't budge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER (voice over): Finally, they break through, confronted by another tangle. Layers of furniture, chains and metal grating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) are we not?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER (voice over): Police said, unable to see beyond the barricades, they deployed distraction devices upon entry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flash bang over. Let's deploy a flashback.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER (voice over): With loud bangs and blinding flashes to disorient anyone who might have posed a threat. It took six minutes and 40 seconds ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER (voice over): ... to breach the layers of barricades to reach the protesters who had been holding the building. As one protester appears to advance towards police, a second protester wrestles him to the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on the ground, (INAUDIBLE) ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER (voice over): Police reach a stairwell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stairwell, stairwell ... (END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER (voice over): And advanced upwards through the building, finding more locks, chains, barricades, but no more protesters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And you just got some new information from the NYPD about who they arrested last night.
MILLER (on camera): So they arrested about 40 people that were in that first floor of the building and they have now taken that identification of the 40 people, their names, pedigree and provided that to Columbia University so the university can determine how many of these people were students, how many, if any, were not students and where they were from.
COOPER: I also want to bring in Columbia graduate student and CNN Reporter, Julia Vargas Jones, who brought us exclusive reporting from campus just steps away from Hamilton Hall as police went in.
[20:05:02]
Julia first of all you and your photographer did a great job. What was your photographer's name?
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN REPORTER: Corinne Catibayan.
COOPER: Okay. You guys did a great job last night. You did this on, like, your cell phone. I know your battery was dying (INAUDIBLE) ...
JONES: This one, yes.
COOPER: That was it.
JONES: The broken one, broken screen, yes.
COOPER: Well, we appreciate it.
So what is it like seeing that? I mean, you were on the outside in the beginning of that. You saw that line that we're just seeing that for the first time.
JONES: Well, so right when that started, we couldn't see any of that, right? So they pushed us out, and I was live with you at the time. They pushed us out about at least 50 yards, and there was blockage in the way. We couldn't see anything that was happening aside from police - lines and lines of police officers going past the now - the bleachers for the graduation event that's coming up in a couple weeks and then coming back on the other side. So we had to - we kind of were in this blind spot, but we did know from being there all day that there was a lot of stuff just keeping police from entering, as well as a few dozen students on the outside.
Now, I'm interested in that number of about 40 people inside, because we really didn't know how many people were inside. COOPER: How many were inside. The protesters, I mean, you were out there. They weren't really talking to anybody with a camera who was there.
JONES: Not just anybody with a camera, even student press. It was really difficult, and I think in their attempt to protect their identities, to try and remain anonymous, I think that ended up creating a big barrier for us to just get some of the basic information out.
COOPER: I want to play, John, some sound from the New York Police Department's Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REBECCA WEINER, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM: These students don't come in the doors knowing how to barricade themselves behind barriers that they've created, right? These are all skills that are taught and learned, and that presents a problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Yesterday, New York's mayor had talked about outside agitators. That is - there may be people from outside. We don't know the makeup of the people inside the building yet. The outside agitators is kind of a common trope also used against protesters in past decades, frankly, going back for a long time. So is it clear who the people in the building - I mean, were they all students? Were some of them outsiders? Do we know?
MILLER: So they're still going through that, but I mean, I think what the mayor was talking about was an extraordinarily well-known national figure in the protest movement, Lisa Fithian, A 63-year-old protest organizer from Austin, Texas, part of Occupy Wall Street, part of Occupy City Hall, part of so many protests, Seattle, across the country, arrived at Columbia on Monday afternoon. That was just before they took that building. She's on video helping students with a table that they are using to barricade the door.
So the question that the NYPD was looking at is as this encampment on the West Lawn was losing steam, did a professional organizer come in and say, if you want to have an impact, you need disruption. Now, Lisa Fithian, for the record, talked to us at CNN and said, we weren't there to take over the building, that just happened.
But the question that the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence, my former job, Rebecca Weiner, raises is, where did they suddenly get this idea and all the tactics and techniques for the kind of barricades we saw.
COOPER: When you - John, when you see this video, I mean, what stands out to you as we watch it?
MILLER: What stands out to me is this was extraordinarily well planned and not something that they would have thought of on their own based on the tactics and techniques they used, entering the building, having an agent hide inside, then breaking all the security cameras to cut off the view of so many people.
COOPER: I mean, there was a history of taking over buildings in Columbia going back to the '60s.
MILLER: Oh, yes, yes, yes, going back to 1968.
COOPER: They used - they held people hostage in the '60s.
MILLER: And in fact, in 1968, Hamilton Hall, this was the first building they took over. And the police response was a lot more violent and aggressive in terms of how the students and police fought there.
COOPER: Yes.
MILLER: In this case, it just seemed that their negotiations reached an impasse and the coincidental arrival of a national person who trains protesters is something that caught authorities' attention.
COOPER: And Julia, what's campus like today? What's the reaction been like?
JONES: It's quite a different scene, Anderson. It was quiet. It was eerie. There weren't a lot of students on campus. As you know, not many students were allowed in general, only if you live there for your essential staff.
So it was weird to see campus so empty, so close to finals. I mean, at 10 AM usually it's packed. People are late for class. There's life, but ...
COOPER: So classes are done - it's now people studying for finals.
[20:10:02]
JONES: Oh, there are still classes. I am still in classes, but now they're all on Zoom, right? And everything is digital now. And then there is something that struck me this morning as I walked outside of Pulitzer Hall was seeing the marks of the tents that they left on the lawn. I'm sure you've seen that picture of just - that, to me, was kind of a poetic scar of what Columbia has been through in the past few weeks and especially in the past ...
COOPER: And graduation ceremony is when?
JONES: May 15th.
COOPER: Okay. Because that would obviously be a target for protesters.
MILLER: And they've asked police to stay on campus because I think what Columbia has experienced is they cleared that West Lawn once before. That's where they have the commencement. And now it's, okay, we've taken the ground again. We've taken the building back. Now we need to hold it between now and commencement.
COOPER: Yes. John Miller, thank you. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up next to Los Angeles, where there was a violent incident on the UCLA campus involving Israel supporters and anti-Israel demonstrators after which classes were canceled today. CNN's Nick Watt is there for us tonight.
So what's been the reaction to what happened last night?
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, people are shocked and stunned by what happened last night. The college spokesperson said this, that they are sickened by the senseless violence and it must end. I've spoken to some Jewish students here who were also shocked. The protesters themselves. Listen, they are very rightly rattled by what happened, but they are determined to stay during the day today. They've actually been reinforcing these barricades behind me, which is exactly where this incident happened last night.
Take a look at just what happened here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (voice over): Late night into the early morning at UCLA, counter protesters, pro-Israel protesters among them, some clearly not students, breached the barricades around the pro-Palestinian encampment. A firecracker thrown in, cones and more flying through the darkness, pepper spray from inside that camp. The college newspaper photographed a counter protester spraying from an aerosol can.
"Daily Bruin reporters on the scene were slapped and indirectly sprayed with irritants." "Absolutely detestable violence," said L.A.'s Mayor Karen Bass. UC officials say 15 injured, one hospitalized and they promise an independent external review.
Ever since this encampment sprang up Thursday morning, tension has been mounting. The first scuffles Thursday afternoon, more over the weekend. Hence the barriers and the buffer zone that was breached last night. The university has allowed the protesters to control who enters the camp. Monday, a Jewish student posted this. Protesters well outside of their encampment, he says, blocking his way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not letting me walk in. My class is over there. I want to use that entrance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): UCLA called this abhorrent and removed those barriers. Then last night, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to block Jewish kids, yes? Let's see you. We finally got you (expletive) ...
VINCENT DOEHR, UCLA STUDENT: What happened last night was an attack on our encampment by Zionist thugs that the university did nothing to stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): This morning at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, law enforcement did get involved. Campus police clashing with protesters while clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment. Four law enforcement officers were injured. Dozens of protesters arrested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They started pushing them. They started shoving them. Students were held down with batons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): Most were released without citations. College officials say it's unclear how many were affiliated with the school. They say some resisted arrest and say peaceful protests that abide by campus rules are still allowed, just no tents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARC LOVICOTT, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, UW-MADISON POLICE: We are grateful that our protesters are still here and they are exercising their First Amendment right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): Back at UCLA today, much more law enforcement on site and all classes are cancelled. The buffer zone between the encampment and everyone else has expanded to about half the length of a football field. This afternoon, just outside the barrier, faculty in solidarity with the pro-Palestinians ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shame on you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): Shouted down by pro-Israeli protesters. Just a couple of faculty and students from either side trying to find even a sliver of common ground.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So, Nick, were there no campus police at the very least at that location last night and what's - how's the police response last night or lack of have been viewed by the community there?
WATT (on camera): There were very few campus security here and they frankly didn't do much and there has been a lot of criticism of the response. Gov. Gavin Newsom posted this morning, the limited and delayed campus law enforcement response at UCLA last night was unacceptable and demands answers. We've asked for answers. We're still waiting for them.
UCLA says that they're carrying out an internal investigation, gathering information. But listen, whatever college administrators do, they're going to get criticized.
[20:15:01]
You see what happened at Columbia last night, at Wisconsin this morning, where they go in heavy handed, they get criticized. You see what happened here, they hang back, they get criticized.
But there is now a very different posture. I'm looking at about a dozen LAPD officers there. We've had California Highway Patrol here all day. LAPD choppers circling around. So they are clearly - they've clearly learned a lesson from last night and they do not want that to happen again.
But right now, the reality here, Anderson, is you've got protesters in there who are scared. You've got Jewish students out on the campus who are scared. No one is happy and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight either. You know, the president of the whole UC system today said that they will clear this encampment, but only at the appropriate time.
Now, I don't know what that means. And the commencement, the main commencement events here aren't until the middle of June. So the UC system is saying we will not divest, which is the demand of the protesters. The protesters are saying they will not leave. So what do you got? You've got classes canceled and you've got dozens, if not hundreds, now of officers on this campus trying to keep an uneasy peace and no one feels safe and no one's happy. Anderson?
COOPER: Yes. Nick Watt, thank you. Appreciate it.
Next, the former president blaming the current one for campus unrest. What voters make of that issue and others with new numbers from CNN's Harry Enten.
And later, the next strange twist from Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene's push to unseat the Republican Speaker of the House and what Democrats may do to help him actually keep his job. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:54]
COOPER: With his New York hush money trial in recess, the former president spent the day campaigning in the Midwest at a stop in Wisconsin. He praised New York police for taking action last night, calling it "a beautiful thing to watch." He also said this about President Biden's relative silence on campus unrest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He hasn't been heard from. He's the president. When you have a problem like that, you should go out and talk about it and talk to the people.
Crooked Joe is now reportedly planning, this is wonderful news for you people in Wisconsin, to bring massive numbers of Gazans from the Middle East all live to your American towns, your towns and villages. He's just determined to create the conditions for an October 7th style attack right here in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that last bit refers to discussions reported by CBS News about bringing a limited number of people from Gaza with close American relatives into the country. Not massive numbers, as the former president was saying and it's not administration policy yet. From Wisconsin, the former president went to Freeland, Michigan. CNN's Kristen Holmes is there for us tonight.
So the president just wrapped up remarks in Michigan, what more did he - what more can you tell us?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson in his one day out of the courtroom. He spent here in Michigan railing against that New York hush money trial, complaining about the gag order and attacking the judge. All of this, of course, just one day after that judge fined him nine thousand dollars for violating the gag order in the first place. He has another gag order hearing tomorrow.
Now, you mentioned some of what he said in Wisconsin. I want to point out two other notable moments. One, he said that people were thrilled at the overturning of Roe v. Wade. This is particularly notable given what today is. It is a day that that six-week abortion ban was put into effect in Florida. But Florida, something that people are not overwhelmingly thrilled with.
The other thing that he mentioned was something that had been deeply reported, but to my knowledge, he had never said in detail was about January 6th. He actually confirmed the reporting that when he got into his car that day after his rally, he told the Secret Service to take him down to the Capitol. He wanted to see what was going on and they told him he could not go. These, again, were things that we had not heard all the way into that detail before.
COOPER: It's also telling that his first day of rallies during this trial is spent in Michigan and Wisconsin, both states that he lost, but the races there were very close.
HOLMES: Yes, he won in 2016, lost in 2020. And if you talk to any of his advisers, they call them must win states and they really acknowledge that he's probably going to have to win those two states if he wants to go back to the White House. You're going to see him here a lot more. They are trying to find voters outside of his base to court. They believe that his voters will show up his base, will show up no matter what. But what they're going to do here for strategy is try to find voters who maybe have a preference or have thought about voting for Donald Trump and bring them out to the polls in November.
COOPER: How has he been spending the bulk of his time when he's not in the courtroom?
HOLMES: Well. A lot of it is complaining that he should be on the campaign trail. But this was really the first time that we had seen him do events. Even today, he said he had to do two events today because he was in the courtroom. But this is the first time we've actually seen that.
Now, it's not all because of his own issues. We know that there was a weather issue at a rally two weeks ago. But besides that, he has had dinners at Trump Tower. He went and played golf at Bedminster. He has held fundraiser after fundraiser.
And they have had some local campaign stops, politically motivated stop to a bodega. He also went and spoke to union workers, construction workers trying to kind of chip away at Biden's working class voter. All in New York so he could stay there because he has to for the trial.
Now, when it comes to next week and the week after, we know this weekend he's going to be at Florida for the RNC spring retreat. But after that, we don't know what actual events he has. He has one rally in Saturday. Next Wednesday, unclear what he's going to be doing around his court days. We do know he does have a series of fundraisers. Some - at least two weeks from now on a Wednesday, he has two fundraisers back-to-back. Anderson?
COOPER: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you.
As Kristen mentioned, the former president weighed in on abortion today. This comes as Florida's six-week abortion ban went into effect, as Kristen said. And Vice President Harris in Jacksonville made sure to put a return address on it.
[20:25:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Trump was the president who took away the protections of Roe. Because of Donald Trump, more than 20 states have abortion bans. Trump abortion ban. Trump abortion ban. Trump abortion ban. Former President Donald Trump did this.
A second Trump term would be even worse. Trump wants us to believe he will not sign a national ban. If Donald Trump gets the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban. This truly is a health care crisis and Donald Trump is the architect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So with one side highlighting abortion as one voting issue and the other side leaning into student unrest, the question is what kind of a punch does each carry with voters? Here with some of the voters, senior data reporter, Harry Enten.
So when you look at issues like abortion, law and order, Israel-Hamas war, who do voters prefer, Biden or ...
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I will tell you, President Biden is praying, praying to the electoral gods that the 2024 election is about abortion. It is a rare issue on which voters favor him over former President Trump. It's a double-digit advantage. He does not want this election to be about law and order, where Donald Trump holds a double-digit advantage. He does not want it to be about the Israel- Hamas war, where, again, Trump holds the advantage. And more than that, it divides the Democratic base between older Democrats who are more favorable towards Israel and younger Democrats who are more favorable towards the Palestinians. And obviously, he doesn't want the election to be about the economy either, which is another, of course, important issue.
COOPER: So what do voters say are the most important issues right now?
ENTEN: Yes. So if you look at - I don't think it's a big surprise that Donald Trump is trying to turn the Israel-Hamas war into a crime issue into a law and order issue. Why? It's because if you look, the Israel- Hamas war, in terms of voters who say it's extremely important to your 2024 vote, it's only 26 percent. A considerably higher proportion of the electorate say crime is important, right? And that's, of course, an issue on which Donald Trump holds an edge.
Now, obviously, Joe Biden wants to have this election be about abortion. But, again, that comes in under, comes in under crime. And more than that, I mentioned the economy, that actually is the number one issue. That's more than 60 percent of voters say that's extremely important to their 2024 vote.
So, basically, Anderson, if you're looking at the top issues, those match up much more highly with the issues that Donald Trump does well on and compared to abortion, which, of course, ranks lower down.
COOPER: And when it comes to the Israel-Hamas war, where does that compare to other conflicts?
ENTEN: Yes. So we were talking before we came on here. I mentioned the Vietnam War and the protests. A lot of people, especially who are pro- Palestinian for these protests, want to make comparisons the Vietnam War in those protests, right?
But if you look at the polling, Americans do not see them on anywhere near the same level.
Back in 1968, if you ask what was the most important probably, number one was the Vietnam War. That was well into the 40s. If you look now at the most important problem, you know where the Israel-Hamas war ranks? It ranks 17th on the list of issues, just 2 percent of Americans say that's the most important problem right now.
So these are just not anywhere on the same level despite the fact that many on the pro-Palestinian side want to put on the same level as the Vietnam War protests.
COOPER: Harry Enten, thanks very much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
COOPER: Coming up, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says next week she'll pull the trigger on a vote to oust House Speaker Johnson. Now, Republicans don't sound thrilled, but the question is, will Democrats actually come to Speaker Johnson's aid? We'll talk to a top House Democrat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:20]
COOPER: One week ago today, House Speaker Mike Johnson was in New York at Columbia University and demanded it's president resign if she couldn't "bring order to this chaos." While tonight, fellow Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says it is Johnson who has to be ousted next week. Manu Raju has the latest in the chaos inside the Republican Party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): I really don't give a rat's ass what anybody up here says about what I'm doing.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is finally ready to make good on her threat to force a vote ousting Speaker Mike Johnson.
GREENE: I voted for Mike Johnson because his voting record before he became speaker was conservative. But once he became speaker, he has become a man that none of us recognize.
RAJU (voice-over): But there's a problem, she doesn't have the votes.
REP. MARCUS MOLINARO, (R-NY): Bless her heart. I think this is all about wanting more attention and not producing actual results.
REP. DON BACON, (R-NE): 98 percent of us find it disgusting. Retire the chaos, retire the anarchy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the wrong move at the wrong time by the wrong people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a distraction and I think it's a mistake.
RAJU (voice-over): With a one-vote margin, Johnson lacks the votes to stay in power with GOP support alone. But Democrats plan to save him in next week's vote.
REP. THOMAS MASSIE, (R-KY): This is unprecedented that somebody's foe in leadership, the leadership of the Democratic Party would offer to save the leader of the Republican Party. RAJU (voice-over): Top Democrats praise Johnson for cutting a series of bipartisan deals, including advancing $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, even though it enraged the right wing.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D) MINORITY LEADER: It's time to end this chapter of pro-Putin obstruction.
RAJU (voice-over): It's a shift from almost seven months ago when Democrats voted with eight Republicans to make Kevin McCarthy the first ever speaker ousted on the floor.
RAJU: Kevin McCarthy, you guys voted him out. Why not -- what's different now?
REP. PETE AGUIAR, (D-CA): I think what we saw with former Speaker McCarthy was he wanted to blame Democrats the entire time. I disagree with Speaker Johnson in a number of ways but he lived up to his commitments to put this bill on the floor.
RAJU (voice-over): But Liberal Democrats are objecting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I certainly will not be voting to support Mike Johnson.
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL, (D-WA): We can't continue to do this every time they want to, they want to do that -- you know, vacate the speaker.
RAJU (voice-over): Yet Johnson has the support of GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz, who led the charge to oust McCarthy.
REP. MATT GAETZ, (R-FL): I think in an election year, right now, it probably doesn't portend too well.
RAJU (voice-over): GOP critics agree.
[20:35:00]
RAJU: Are you going to support them?
REP. MICHALE CLOUD, (R-TX): I'm very troubled by the leadership we've seen, where you haven't had conservative leadership. I don't think the timing is right for that.
RAJU (voice-over): But Republicans worry Greene's effort will hurt their chances in November.
REP. DERRICK VAN ORDEN, (R-WI): We have to understand this is not a junior high school reality television show.
REP. TROY NEHLS, (R-TX): Everything that we do in the House of Representatives should be in the best interests of getting Donald Trump re-elected. This guy right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Manu joins us now from Capitol Hill. So, how does the former president factor into this?
RAJU (on camera): Yeah, actually this is a rare situation where there has been some daylight between Marjorie Taylor Greene and the former president. Actually in fact, Donald Trump has publicly expressed some support from Mike Johnson, especially when they were down in Mar-a- Lago together. Trump also did not come out and flatly opposed that $61 billion in aid to Ukraine. And he also has indicated he has some concerns moving down the road of vacating the speakership, but nevertheless, Marjorie Taylor Greene has gotten another route.
I've put the question to her twice today about whether she was doing this in defiance of Donald Trump. First, she put on her MAGA hat and said there is no bigger supporter than her -- of Donald Trump than her. And then later tonight, I asked her about the concerns from a number of Trump allies if this could hurt Donald Trump's ability to take back the White House. And she said, "Mike Johnson is hurting our efforts to win." She said Mike Johnson is absolutely destroying our efforts to have the majority in November.
So you can see, Anderson, she's still pressing ahead. The question is, if and when this fails next week, does she continue to try to force a vote. She did not answer that question earlier today.
COOPER: All right. Manu, thanks very much. As you heard, Democrats are divided about whether they would assist Speaker Johnson. Just before airtime, I spoke to Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell about the feelings inside his caucus.
Congressman Swalwell, I appreciate you joining us. Where do you stand on this? Do you think Democrats should save Speaker Johnson's job next week?
REP. ERIC SWALWELL, (D-CA): It's not about Speaker Johnson's job, it's about doing the job every day that Americans expect us to do, which is to get things done. So, to pay our bills and lift the debt ceiling, to avoid government shutdowns, to help keep Ukraine in the fight, and on all of those votes, the majority of the votes came from Democrats.
And so, if chaos agents like Marjorie Taylor Greene and others want to just send us -- and descend us back into chaos at the expense of getting things done, I do agree with our Democratic leadership that we should avoid that, whether we are in charge of the House are not, getting things done has to be the priority.
COOPER: So, I want to play something that Marjorie Taylor Greene said about House Democrats and Speaker Johnson earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREENE: Mike Johnson is not capable of that job. He has proven it over and over again. Now, we have Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats coming out, embracing Mike Johnson with a warm hug and a big, wet, sloppy kiss.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: So, Congresswoman Greene and Congressman Massie, he was also supporting the effort to oust Johnson, are saying that this will provide voters with a list of members who stand with the speaker going into elections. You're running for re-election this year. Are you worried about losing votes if you save Speaker Johnson's job effectively?
SWALWELL: No, I promised from the very beginning, when I went to Congress, that I would work with anyone who wanted to work with me to get things done. And I think that's the mindset of our leadership. And if Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to say that Democrats are embracing Speaker Johnson with a warm hug, it's not so much that as we are issuing a stay-away order to Marjorie Taylor Greene and the other chaos agents who are seeking to just bring this place to a standstill, as there's so many issues that we have to work on.
We're not going to agree on everything was Speaker Johnson certainly. But on the priorities that I just laid out earlier, avoiding shutdowns, paying our bills, helping Ukraine, where there's consensus, we will continue to deliver on it.
COOPER: I mean, what does it say to you that so many of your House colleagues on both sides of the aisle are tired of the drama and the chaos, and actually agree that Greene is basically wreaking havoc in Congress?
SWALWELL: It's not a bad thing. And I hope that it leads to us taking on more issues. The Select Committee on China, a bipartisan effort, put out a lot of recommendations on what we can do to counter China. And I hope again, we find ways to work together on that and bring that legislation to the floor. We have a potential shutdown again in September, and so we'll need to work together to avoid that.
It actually feels good to vote with Republicans for the sake of the country, rather than the partisan politics that the Marjorie Taylor Greenes and the Donald Trumps would rather see us engage in.
COOPER: Yeah, I mean, is it -- does she even have anybody to take the speaker's job? I mean, it is even clear who she has in mind?
SWALWELL: There's no one who could win on the Republican side. Again, they just want chaos. And Hakeem Jeffries has essentially been the functional speaker and the case we'll have to make to the voters is that he should be the formal speaker because he has kept us united.
[20:40:00]
SWALWELL: He has collaborated when it means getting things done. And we can't give the keys to government back to many of these individuals who will, again, just gum up the works because they'd rather have the fame than doing anything to help people they represent.
COOPER: Congressman Eric Swalwell, thank you.
SWALWELL: My pleasure. COOPER: Coming up, protests unfolding on yet another New York campus. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is there for us tonight. Also, the question we've been asking ever since these demonstrations began, just who is taking part? Some answers at one university at least ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The NYPD says it arrested at least 15 people today after clearing protesters from another university in Manhattan, this time at Fordham University, which is almost a straight shot down the west side from Columbia University.
[20:45:00]
COOPER: Our Shimon Prokupecz was there earlier today. He now joins us from a third New York institution, New York University, farther south in Manhattan. What's it like there?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So Anderson, a very large crowd gathered here outside an encampment actually that the university has on campus. This is a very large encampment. It's on the university property. And what's really interesting here is that there's actually NYU Security that is guarding the encampment, making sure that only NYU students are entering the encampment, quite different from what we saw the other night when we went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, to try and figure out exactly who is behind some of these protests, who is attending them, who is sleeping in the encampments, and here is what we found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The campus at the University of Pennsylvania is open to the public.
PROKUPECZ: You guys are students here? Do -- are they students or --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so.
PROKUPECZ: Do you work for the school or --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: OK, all right. Thank you.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): For more than a week, the encampment has grown, tents filled with people. But who are they?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): You're harassing my friend.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The suspicion runs both ways.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. Are you press or what?
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, I'm with CNN. I mean, we we're just asking people questions. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't trust you (ph) either, come on.
PROKUPECZ: OK. Why are you hiding your face?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What news are you guys from?
PROKUPECZ: We're CNN.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): One man who was showing his face is having a tough time with the crowd here.
PROKUPECZ: This man, sole supporter of Israel. He's actually not even from Israel. He's not Israeli. He's not Jewish. He is actually Christian, but he said he felt the need to come out here and voice his support for Israel. So what's just seeing every time he speaks, every time he says something, this group here, they follow him around. They put this blue tarp behind him and they try to interrupt what he's saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So they're bringing out the speaker now to try and drown out what he's saying. So now, they have the speaker out here.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): We spot a person named Charlotte waving the flag of a terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
PROKUPECZ: What was that flag that you are carrying?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's not talking to you.
PROKUPECZ: I understand. But what was -- what was -- what was that flag you we're carrying?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't --
PROKUPECZ: Do you know that that flat that you were carrying is a terrorist organization?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not talking to you.
PROKUPECZ: Are you aware of that? You we're waving it. Charlotte? Charlotte? You were waving it very proudly. Charlotte?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me, guys.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): They don't want to speak with us and flee before we can ask any more questions.
PROKUPECZ: You're not a student, right? OK. And he's not a student.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
PROKUPECZ: OK. So how come you're here if you're not students?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're supporting. PROKUPECZ: OK. But this is supposed to be for students, right? Or this is just -- I'm just curious, that's what I thought, but it seems like most people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a student.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah. Yeah. You know a student here at this at this school?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could be or could be not.
PROKUPECZ: OK. When -- first, you said no, so I don't know. I'm just --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a question for the cops, when they come, I can answer that for them.
PROKUPECZ: OK. Are you a student here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Do you know ---
PROKUPECZ: Are you a student here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
PROKUPECZ: OK. You've been camping out here on campus and you're not a student?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, there's a lot of people -- there's a lot of community members here.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, was it clear to you what percentage that group was, actually students at UPenn?
PROKUPECZ (on camera): No, it wasn't clear. Most of the people, Anderson, that I spoke to were actually not students. There were a few students, but most of them were outside the encampment. And every time I try to talk to them, they would refuse to speak to me, as you saw there. But no, it wasn't clear.
Penn is a very open campus. There are many entrances, in and out of the campus. So people can easily just come on campus, but the police are there. There's really no one asking any questions, and they're just allowed to remain in this enhancement of their -- some hostility towards some other Jewish kids who had approached the encampment and you could just tell that there was a certain tension there. The longer we stayed, the more tense it became.
And really, it was quite different than any of the other encampments that I had been to, like at Columbia. Certainly, this one here at NYU. It's just quite different, trying to ask people questions about who they simply were and they just refuse to speak to us. COOPER: Shimon Prokupecz, appreciate it. Thank you. More next on the war at the center of these demonstrations and how it's being waged. We've got an update on a deadly Israeli airstrike in Gaza that we told you about just two weeks ago. A young girl named Shahed, one of ten children killed while playing outside.
[20:50:00]
COOPER: Our Jeremy Diamond has been trying to get answers from the IDF, from the Israeli military. Now, they've finally responded. What they are saying and not saying about the strike, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: An update now on a deadly Israeli airstrike in central Gaza, we first told you about two weeks ago. And we want to warn you if you have children nearby, you might want them to leave the room due to the graphic video and story you're about to see. This is 10-year-old Shahed, who was playing foosball with her friends when she was killed in an airstrike. She and nine other children were killed that day.
At the time, the Israeli military didn't say much about the strike. Now, they finally responded to our questions from Jeremy Diamond, who has also spoken with Shahed's family. Here is his report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This grainy home video is the closest Mona Awda Talla will ever get to seeing her ten year- old daughter.
[20:55:00]
DIAMOND (voice-over): A stack of school certificates, a wardrobe of her favorite clothes, the perfume she used to wear, all that remains of the daughter Mona poured everything into.
MONA AWDA TALLA, SHAHED AWDA TALLA'S MOTHER (through translator): There is no Shahed now. Every time she came in, she said mom. I would say my soul, my soul, my soul is gone.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Shahed was one of ten children killed when an Israeli airstrike hit the crowded street in the Al Maghazi Refugee Camp where she was playing with her friends. Her pink pants impossible to miss among the small bodies splayed around a foosball table in the chaotic aftermath. Two weeks later, the Israeli military still won't take responsibility for the strike that killed her.
CNN provided the IDF with the coordinates and time of the attack based on metadata from two different phones in the immediate aftermath. The IDF said they did not have a record of that strike. They said they carried out a strike at a different time than described and that the collateral damage as described in the query is not known to the IDF. The IDF makes great efforts to mitigate harm to the civilian population from areas were strikes are being carried out. Evidence recovered and documented by CNN at the scene of the strike paints a very different picture of Israeli military responsibility. This circuit board and bits of shrapnel, walls and shop steps distinctively pockmarked, and a small crater barely a foot wide, all pointing three munitions experts to the same conclusion, the carnage was likely caused by a precision-guided munitions deployed by the Israeli military.
CHRIS COBB-SMITH, WEAPONS EXPERT: I have seen these strikes so many times. There's a relatively small crater in the road. There's no large shrapnel holes or fragmentation holes, which would have been caused by, say, a mortar round or an artillery round. The fragmentation is consistent.
DIAMOND: So in your view, this strike was caused by a precision- guided, drone-fired missile?
COBB-SMITH: Absolutely. This is an Israeli ammunition. The local militias, the local forces do not have anything with this amount of sophistication.
DIAMOND: Before carrying out the strike, Israeli drones would have surveiled the Al Maghazi Refugee Camp from above. Seconds later, the missile hits the street below, landing in the middle of the road, just a few feet away from the foosball table were Shahed and her friends were playing that day, delivering certain death. Against all odds, these children have returned to play at the very same foosball table, including some of Shahed's friends.
I miss her a lot, Sama (ph) says, wearing a necklace Shahed made her. She says she was nearly killed with her friends, going home moments before the strike to drink water. Others were not as lucky. Eight- year-old Ahmed is fighting for his life, bleeding from his brain, his skull fractured. His chances of surviving are slim, his doctor explains. He is fighting not to become the 11th child killed in that same strike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Jerusalem. I mean, the idea that the kids are now playing in that exact same spot on that foosball is just horrific. Jeremy, to be clear, you've been pressing the IDF for answers about the strike for two weeks. They still can't locate this specific strike in their records, they say?
DIAMOND (on camera): Frankly, Anderson, this IDF statement raised more questions than it answered. The Israeli military says, yes, there was a strike but that it wasn't at the time that we have provided based on the metadata from the phones, based on eyewitnesses. And they're not aware they say of anyone being killed. And nowhere in that statement, Anderson, did they pledge to investigate this, to look into a strike that killed ten children.
The evidence we've collected is now out there for the world to see. And I certainly hope that the Israeli military will reconsider and investigate this. Shahed, Lujain, Yusuf and the seven other children who were killed in a strike, I think they certainly deserve that at a minimum. Anderson?
COOPER: So, they're not saying -- the Israeli military is not saying there was a target in this area and therefore, that's why there was a strike. They're just -- they're just not acknowledging that there was a strike at all?
DIAMOND (on camera): They say that there was a strike at a different time in that same area, but they're not saying what time that strike was, what the target of that strike was. And they're saying that they're not aware of any casualties. So frankly, that's clearly not the strike that we have documented here and that we have described to them. So, their answer frankly was nonsensical at times. It didn't amount to what we've seen on the ground and what we've documented. And like I said, it just raises more questions than it actually answered.
COOPER: Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much.
