Return to Transcripts main page

Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

FBI: Colorado Suspect Facing 16 Counts Of Attempted Murder; Sen. Ernst Posts Sarcastic Apology After Town Hall Backlash; Stunning Surprise; Surprise Ukrainian Drone Attack Launched From Inside Russia Takes Out Multiple Military Aircraft; Palestinian Health Ministry And Doctors Say Dozens Shot Dead And Injured Near Gaza Aid Site; Israel's Military Denies Troops Fired At Civilians "Near Or Within" Aid Site; Combs' Former Personal Assistant "Mia" Wraps Testimony. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired June 02, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The eruption began overnight. Geologists say preliminary observations show a "partial collapse of the northern flank of Etna's southeastern crater producing this enormous cloud seen here in a time lapse video.

Everyone on the volcano has been evacuated safely, local authorities say, hikers are being told to avoid the summit area until further notice.

Etna is a popular tourist destination on the island of Sicily visited by 1.5 million a year, many of whom trek almost all the way to its summit. It also happens to be one of the most active volcanic sites in the world, it erupts often. Geologists though say that there hasn't been an eruption of this magnitude since 2014.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And thanks so much for joining us, AC360 starts now.

[20:00:50]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, a peaceful march in Boulder, Colorado, targeted in an antisemitic terror attack. The latest on the alleged would-be killer and we talked to an eyewitness who came under attack.

Also, tonight what this Republican Senator said when confronted about potentially deadly consequences of Medicaid cuts and why her video apology is causing yet more controversy.

And Ukraine's stunning drone strikes on Russia's strategic bomber fleet, how they did it and how it could usher in a new era in warfare all around the world.

We begin tonight in Boulder, Colorado, where one man is accused of trying to kill as many people as he could by setting them on fire and burning them to death. He did this, it appears, because of who they are, which is Jewish, and what they represented to him.

The facts of the matter are hard to even comprehend, and video of the attack and aftermath no less so. It's understandable to want to look away, yet the wider and growing problem of violent antisemitism in this country makes it that much more important to face.

Late today, the suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, made his first court appearance from the Boulder County jail. He's charged with 16 counts of attempted murder and a string of lesser state charges. He entered no plea and will be back in court Thursday. He also faces federal hate crime charges.

Authorities say he's an Egyptian national in the country unlawfully. A homeland security spokesperson saying he entered on a tourist visa in august 2022 as a nonimmigrant visitor. According to "The New York Times," he then applied for asylum, then was granted a two-year work authorization, which expired in March, with the asylum application still pending.

This is what he allegedly did, the attack the FBI says, he planned for a year and carried out using Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower filled with gasoline. We blurred out victims part way in. You'll see the suspect on the far left of your screen shirtless, with a bottle in each hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHAOS IN BOULDER, COLORADO)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The victims targeted as they took part in what is a regular, once a week, peaceful march to keep attention on the hostages in Gaza. In all, a dozen people, many of them older, one, a holocaust survivor were hurt, two were seriously burned. You see one being tended to in the moment, with the suspect still nearby shouting pro-Palestinian slogans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED SABRY SOLIMAN, SUSPECT: (Shouting)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here, we're here brother. We're here, we can't do anything about that. We can't do nothing.

SOLIMAN: We can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not here. Not here, bro.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He won't take any video right now. He was wearing an orange suit with something on his back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's spraying alcohol too.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: After the suspect was arrested. Authorities say they found an additional 16 Molotov cocktails, meaning that everything that had happened, horrible as it was, could have been so much worse.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in boulder tonight. Earlier today, he went back to the scene with someone who was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone needs to finish this.

SOLIMAN: Somebody is going to finish it. Are you out (bleep) out of your mind?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Aaron Brooks arrived on scene moments after the horrific antisemitic attack at a march for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado. Brooks returned to the scene for the first time with CNN.

PROKUPECZ (on camera): How does it feel to be here the day after?

AARON BROOKS, WITNESSED ATTACK: I'm not sure yet. This is the first I've been back. It's all cleaned up, as you can see. You know, it's like these things happen and people just move on with life. So, I don't want to just move on. I want to make sure part of the reason I'm talking with you is I want to make sure that the truth is told. You know, I want to make sure that people know clearly this was an antisemitic attack. I was here. I heard what he said. I heard him clearly say, you're burning my people or you burnt my people.

PROKUPECZ (voice over): He recounted those terrifying moments.

[20:05:14]

BROOKS: You can actually see some burn marks here, I think. Look at that. I think you can maybe see some burnt marks still over there but he was standing right here and this is where he was yelling. At one point, he flipped the top of one of his things, and it's like, oh, my (bleep) God, is he going to do something with that?

But I didn't back up when he did that at all. I again, I don't know what my instinct was or why I did that.

PROKUPECZ (voice over): Brooks said he's attended many of these walks supporting Israeli hostages. He did not come out for Sunday's walk, but eventually showed up.

BROOKS: I rode over here because I just felt like I need to go make sure my community is safe. I know that's not my job, but who else is doing it right? The police, I knew, I figured the police probably weren't here. I immediately saw this guy standing here. The guy here smoke here. Blood over here, smoke coming -- literally coming from a human being.

JONATHAN LEV, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BOULDER JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER: People are devastated, horrified, traumatized. PROKUPECZ (voice over): Jonathan Lev is the executive director of the Boulder Jewish Community Center. He says he personally knows the victims, among them a Holocaust survivor.

LEV: How could you not be scared? How could you not have fear? Safety and security are critical component of how we have to think about and respond to instances like this.

PROKUPECZ (voice over): And that fear given way to anger.

BROOKS: I can't believe I actually can believe we live in a world where this happens. I have three kids. I have a 24-year old, a 21-year old, and a son that just graduated from high school.

This is the world we're living in -- they're living in. This is the world we're leaving them. We have a job to make it as good as we can for them and this shouldn't happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Shimon joins us now from Boulder. What more are you learning about the Holocaust survivor who was injured?

PROKUPECZ: Well, sadly, her daughter was with her yesterday and she was seriously injured. Her daughter has some serious burns. The Holocaust survivor also suffered some injuries, some burns to her feet. So, she's been really worried about her daughter. I last exchanged texts with her last night and she said she was exhausted and in a state of shock. And she was just hoping that she could just take care of her daughter.

Everyone who I've talked to, who knows her, says, like, the strength that this woman has and what she means to this community, they just can't explain and they say they're just so happy that she's okay. And they're looking forward to seeing her and really hearing from her and to get her take on everything that happened. And so far, she hasn't wanted to talk about it. As you can imagine, Anderson, everyone wants to speak to her, but for now, she's just really worried about her daughter and trying to take care of her -- Anderson.

COOPER: We wish her the best, Shimon, thank you very much.

Joining us now, CNN's chief law enforcement intelligence analyst, John Miller. What stands out to you about, first of all, this attack?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: A couple of really interesting things. One, we're observing a shift in offender characteristics. You know this better than I do. But if you look at your school shooters, your lone-wolf terrorist attacks, what you usually see is someone who is in a stage of serial failing socially, educationally, employment, no social network. They go into the propaganda, they drink the Kool-Aid, and they are convinced that doing this terrible thing will make them stand out and to some, be a hero.

In the Jewish museum case, you know, we have an employed individual who actually went to work that day, ran a conference for his company, and did that after. He lives in Chicago with his girlfriend. He was substantial, if not wildly successful. In this case, you've got an individual who has a wife, five children, lives in a house in a suburban area. The neighbors brought cupcakes when he moved in. He waited to do this attack until his daughter had graduated from college.

So, we're seeing people who are doing two very different things. One, they're willing to walk away from a lot. And two, and this is striking, they're not fleeing the scene, trying to get away, trying to mask their identity. They're not taking on police or trying to get police to kill them. They're waiting, trying to own this attack.

COOPER: The Boulder official said that, that the suspect was not on their radar and though he had these immigration issues.

MILLER: Nor was the Jewish museum suspect, and nor was the individual who attacked the Pennsylvania governor with Molotov cocktail in the Governor's Mansion while he slept except for minor drug arrests. So, we're seeing that too.

Although it is typical in terrorism cases that they're not on the radar for criminal behavior, but sometimes you run into them in the chat rooms and other places. These people haven't really turned up.

COOPER: I mean, I remember back in after Oklahoma City, you know, people buying large amounts of agricultural fertilizer would suddenly pop up on law enforcement radar. Something like this, small amounts of gasoline. I assume that's what the accelerant was. I mean, that's people go to gas stations all the time with a with a can.

[20:10:25]

MILLER: Well, that's right and also look at where we are. We're not in New York City or Chicago. This is in the hundred-mile drive between Colorado Springs and Boulder, which is a land of people who use lawnmowers, riding mowers, all kinds of leaf blowers -- things that use gasoline in small amounts, where he stopped at three different gas stations along the way to fill up --

COOPER: Not to apparently not to attract attention at any one, I guess.

MILLER: Exactly.

COOPER: Yes, John Miller, thanks very much, appreciate it.

Shortly before I spoke to eyewitness, Omer Shachar, a co-leader of the "Run for Their Lives" march, and Miri Kornfeld, a director with "Stand With Us Colorado," a pro-Israel group that works with march organizers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Omer, can you walk us through what happened yesterday? What you remember? OMER SHACHAR, CO-LEADER, RUN FOR THEIR LIVES: We were walking on Pearl Street, a busy street here in Boulder, to share the voice. We are not chanting, we're not screaming, we're not engaging. We were doing our regular route, and we go to the courthouse where we gather, take some pictures and read the names of the hostages. This is where the terrorist has been waiting for us.

When we gathered, he threw Molotov cocktail under the legs of my friends and he lit them in fire.

COOPER: Did he say anything initially?

SHACHAR: No, he wanted to keep it a surprise. He didn't say anything -- the first thing was throwing the Molotov cocktail at us and after that, he was chanting and screaming.

COOPER: What can you tell me about your friends who were attacked? I know one of them is 88 years old. She has very serious burns.

SHACHAR: Correct, correct. In our group, there are kids and there are people and elderly. This woman, unfortunately, the bottle hit her and she fell into the fire and this is why she's severely burned. We wish her a quick recovery. We're sending her all the prayers.

There are a few more others that were rushed to the hospital. One of them is a Holocaust survivor. She is so determined. I just heard from her. She's doing better. She's been released. But she's determined to keep walking. She said, yes, see you on Sunday. Those are the people that we are walking together.

COOPER: Obviously, we just heard he's going to be charged with a hate crime. I know Jewish leaders have called for swift action in the aftermath of this attack. Miri, what would you like to see happen -- either the local, the state, the federal level?

MIRI KORNFELD, STANDWITHUS COLORADO DIRECTOR: Absolutely, I think it's really important to -- everybody in the world remember that when we are marching and "Run for Their Lives," were marching for the hostages that were taken on October 7th, the over 240 people who were kidnapped from their homes by Hamas, militants Hamas, the internationally recognized terrorist organization, and they massacred 1,200 people in Israel.

That terrorism and that massacre, in addition to the follow up hate crimes and antisemitic acts that have happened all over the world, not only in North America, need to be condemned at the highest levels by all everybody who has a heart.

Antisemitism, left unchecked, turns into this and this is what happens when people call to globalize the intifada. This is what it looks like.

COOPER: Omer, is there anything else you want people to know?

SHACHAR: My concern that this event one or similar events won't be just against Jewish people. We as a society need to condemn any act of violence because now it was the Jewish people and one person that didn't like to hear what those people had to say. But it can be against any other community. And I think this is the message that we need to take from this incident.

COOPER: Omer, Miri, thank you so much for talking with us. And again, I'm sorry it's under these circumstances, Thank you.

KORNFELD: Thank you Anderson, we appreciate you.

SHACHAR: Thanks for having us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: With John Miller and I talked about a moment ago, this attack is only one of several recent incidents in a growing longer term problem according to the anti-defamation league. There were a record 9,354 acts of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and violence in 2024.

Joining us now, ADL CEO and National Director, Jonathan Greenblatt, also former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. Jonathan, we mentioned this rise in incidents. Was the potential for something like this on your radar?

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Absolutely, I mean, I'll be honest with you, Anderson. The Jewish community hasn't really had a moment to breathe since October, the seventh. Day after day, it's incident after incident, assaults, vandalisms, demonstrations, harassment, the list goes on.

So, in many ways, I think this was predictable. We're seeing Zionists demonized. We're seeing Israelis, you know, dehumanized and we've seen antisemitism really normalized in the public conversation.

[20:15:27]

COOPER: I mean, this is a march that's been happening regularly without incident in Boulder, Colorado.

GREENBLATT: Even calling it a march is generous. I mean, these are elderly people, you know?

COOPER: Yes.

GREENBLATT: Walking around a park and that this man planned it for a year and that he was so meticulous in his planning and his -- as the FBI reported today, not only did he say "Free Palestine" yesterday, not only did he say, "I want to end all Zionists," he looked up, where was a Zionist group and he said, "I want to kill as many Zionist people as possible." This isn't normal.

COOPER: And according to police, he said he would do it again.

GREENBLATT: Absolutely.

COOPER: Andrew, I mean, should this attack in Boulder have been on law enforcements' radar somehow, what his immigration status have been enough to raise a red flag?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Not really, not really. I mean, realistically, every person who overstays a tourist visa doesn't come on the radar of either local law enforcement or federal law enforcement. It's not traditionally been the sort of thing that certainly the FBI or other law enforcement partners have been, have been focused on if that person has not done something else, they haven't been involved in criminal activity or come up in intelligence reporting as someone who might be extreme.

But I think really important thing here, Anderson, is to point out that number that you quoted, that 9,000-plus number of antisemitic acts in 2024 is about five percent higher than the number that we experienced in 2023. So, that's in any two years, that's a pretty big jump.

But if you go back to 2019, the number from 24 is over 300 percent higher than the number from 2019. So, you can't really even get your mind around how significant October 7th is as a as a point of radicalization for people like this person and others who would be inclined to follow their extremist beliefs and take action by inflicting violence upon the Jewish community. It is -- we are off the charts in terms of threats to this community, and we really need to be doing everything, everything possible to limit that.

COOPER: Jonathan, I've been in synagogues a couple times in the last year or two, and the amount of security is noticeable and I mean, it's depressing. I'm glad it's there, but it's depressing to see in this country. What can be done? What do you -- what is the solution?

GREENBLATT: It's really to use the right phrase a moment ago -- radicalization. And so, were seeing like, you know, the speakers at college graduations, you know, make blood libels against their Jewish classmates, calling them complicit in genocide. We're seeing celebrities make, you know, spread toxic anti-Zionism. We're seeing people in the media, like, breathlessly report the claims by the Hamas Ministry of Health, which is not exactly, you know, CNN and then folks, places like the BBC repeated and launder it and make people believe that these things are real.

So, what do I want? I want more accountability. People need to realize that it starts with words, and it can lead to real world violence. And we're seeing that. We're seeing people radicalized by what they consume in the media. What spread on social media, which is a super spreader of this. We need everybody to take it down a notch.

COOPER: Wow, Jonathan Greenblatt, appreciate it. Thank you very much. Andrew McCabe as well. Coming up next, why this apology from a U.S. Senator is getting even more attention than what she claims to be apologizing for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): We are all going to perish from this Earth. So, I apologize, and I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the Tooth Fairy as well. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: And later, how Ukraine using small drones and tractor-trailer trucks manage to destroy a bomber fleet in a raid being compared to Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by some in Russia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:23:50]

COOPER: Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa is dealing with some backlash after comments she made at a Town Hall defending Republicans' proposed cuts to Medicaid, the health care program for low-income Americans. Let's listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERNST: When you are arguing about illegals that are receiving Medicaid benefits, 1.4 million -- they're not they eligible, so they will be coming off. So, people are not -- well, we all are going to die -- for heaven's sakes, folks, okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, that didn't seem like a winning argument with some people in the in the audience. Two, quick fact checks on this illegal immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid, although some state funded health care programs do allow them to enroll. And secondly, the Congressional Budget Office did find the big beautiful bill, as it's called, would lead to as many as 10.3 million people losing their Medicaid.

Now, the day after the Town Hall, Ernst posted an apology of sorts, sarcastic on Instagram, shot from what appears to be a cemetery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERNST: I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this earth, so I apologize. And I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the Tooth Fairy as well.

But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:25:38]

COOPER: Unclear how this will all play with her constituents, since she's up for reelection next year and already facing some Republican primary challengers. Another challenger from the Democratic side threw his hat in the ring just today, citing her comments.

Democratic State Representative J.D. Scholten said in his launch video. "I can't just sit on the sidelines after Joni's recent Town Hall justifying gutting Medicaid because we're all going to die."

For more, I'm joined by CNN political commentator and former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin. Obviously, I mean, how much of this is about the Republican primary challenger, she's getting you think?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think almost entirely and this is a case where the cover up is worse than the crime. She could have walked back those initial comments. Sure, they'd always show up in a general election ad, but if she had just said, I misspoke. Of course, I care about taking care of all of my constituents. This story would be over today.

But the kind of bizarre pushback video that appears to be in a cemetery felt so un-Joni Ernst. This is a serious senator, she's a combat veteran. She's somebody who's very liked by her colleagues across the aisle. But it felt a little Trumpian.

Where when you do something wrong, when you step in it, you double down, you never admit fault and you -- if anything, maybe make a little bit of a mockery of it. So, I think she's very worried about getting in the crosshairs of a MAGA primary challenger. She's got a couple who filed already, and you'll remember she got some blowback from Trump world during Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearings.

She was one of the vocal people saying she had real concerns with his candidacy.

COOPER: And she was threatened with primary challenge just then.

GRIFFIN: -- during that, exactly. She ultimately voted for Hegseth. But I think this lives very clearly in her rear view mirror that there is a chance she could have a well-funded primary challenger. So, this is a moment I don't think she thought she could just apologize and move on. She had to take the MAGA approach and double down.

COOPER: It's so interesting that that is now the go to, I mean, that the whole sort of -- and we see it on the left too, that that is like shamelessness is now the thing.

GRIFFIN: Well, and it's weird because I'm not convinced it works for most people not named Donald Trump. We've seen people emulate it, but in general, I think he is built so different than any political figure.

COOPER: He's held to a different standard.

GRIFFIN: He's held to a different standard, and it's almost baked in with his supporters and even detractors like you just expect he's going to double down and not admit fault. It doesn't play as well. We kind of saw this when Ron DeSantis was having a big moment. The more he emulated Trump, his popularity actually kind of went down.

Joni Ernst is somebody who, by the way, could play a strong hand in the Senate in negotiating some of the requirements around Medicare and Medicaid and whether it's going to have funding cuts in the next eight years in this bill. So, there's an opportunity that she can be --

COOPER: Do you think that may be watered down? Because clearly, you know, it doesn't -- it may not play well for a lot of politicians.

GRIFFIN: I'm quite bullish that in the Senate, the big beautiful bill, some of these cuts are going to be watered down. It's so much harder when you have to win statewide to go home and say, these massive cuts might be coming to your district. It's easier when you're in a hyper gerrymandered Republican district in the House. So, I actually think some of the more concerning cuts are going to get worked out in the Senate or in the conference committee.

COOPER: All right. Alyssa Farah Griffin, thank you so much, appreciate it. That's it, coming up next, pulling up a wartime surprise attack. Pulling it off -- how Ukraine did it. What it could mean for wars to come. Extraordinary what they accomplished with this. We'll show you the latest on it.

Also the latest on why what's billed as a humanitarian food relief effort in Gaza is now accused of being dangerous for people in need.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:33:38]

COOPER: Ukraine pulled off a daring and brazen drone attack against Russia this weekend launched from inside Russia. Ukrainian drones were smuggled into Russia by undercover operatives and then hidden inside wooden sheds. Those sheds were loaded onto trucks and transported near air bases. Once activated, the roofs opened and the drones hit their targets, which included dozens of planes.

CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has more details.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bird's-eye view of humiliation. Ukrainian drones halfway across Russian Siberia, seconds from hitting the Kremlin's most prized bombers. But the data was bad for Moscow.

117 drones hitting 41 long-range bombers across Russia, a Ukrainian security source said. A torn-up skyline here in Belaya, exactly what Moscow dreaded and Ukraine needed, a boost to its flagging morale. Damaging Russia's war machine, for sure, but maybe also its calculus in peace talks.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Our Operation Spider Web yesterday proved that Russia must feel what its losses mean. That is what will push it toward diplomacy.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Ukraine hit Irkutsk, 4,500 kilometres away from Ukraine, where Google Earth still shows similar propeller-driven aircraft in the open. But they also struck Alenia, right on the Arctic Circle, similar planes also on Google. Another example of something that just was not meant to happen in Russia's brutal war of choice.

[20:35:12]

The how was as extraordinary. Ukraine's Security Service head, Vasyl Malyuk, commenting here.

VASYL MALYUK, HEAD, UKRAINE SECURITY SERVICE (through translation): How beautiful it looks, this airbase Belaya.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): And releasing these images of the wooden mobile homes they used the roof cavities of to hide the drones.

Before their release, once Ukraine said all their operatives were out of Russia. The planes hit, mainly the Tupolev 95 and Tupolev 22, the Ukrainian source said, aging, easy to damage, hard to replace.

They were partly behind the nightly terrors that beset Ukrainian civilians. Whether these strikes make a dent in this daily toll will take weeks to learn. But it may also damage the Kremlin quicker, away from the front lines.

Its pride hit hard, although state TV put on a fierce display of why Russia has been piling Ukraine so relentlessly. It may also, too, change its thinking, perhaps peace talks that continued Monday in Istanbul, and of how long Russia can sustain this war if Ukraine keeps throwing painful surprises its way.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

PATON WALSH (on-camera): And a certain matter of hours after those attacks, again indications in Istanbul that Russia is seeking to slow roll peace talks here, presenting its long-awaited memorandum for terms for peace. Some of the most maximalist demands it's made, frankly, asking Ukraine to give up territory Russia doesn't even control, yet even demobilize its military.

A suggestion these attacks certainly haven't influenced diplomacy yet, but they may be a reminder of Ukraine's constant ability to surprise and upset Moscow, and perhaps make the Kremlin ask quite how long it can, without risk to serious parts of its military, sustain this war, Anderson.

COOPER: Nick Payton Walsh, thanks so much.

Joining me now is Andrea Kendall-Taylor, former U.S. Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia, and retired General Wesley Clark, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander. General Clark, did you think that Ukraine had the resources and sophistication to pull off something like this on its own?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: That's an amazing operation, and yes, they had the ability to do it, and they did it.

COOPER: What -- CLARK: Just think about this, they had 117 drones, each one had an

operator. They were controlled in real time over Russian telegram and telephone networks on target. It's an amazingly sophisticated operation. But I think we have to give Ukraine credit, they did it.

COOPER: And I'm wondering -- I mean, what do you think it says about Russia's intelligence and military capabilities that the drones could be smuggled inside the country and launched from there, Andrea?

ANDREA KENDALL-TAYLOR, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN SECURITY: Well, I mean, again, I think it underscores just how hard and the painstaking effort Ukraine went through to plan this operation. We've heard it took them more than 18 months to plan this, and it demonstrates just how capable Ukraine is to permeate Russia, Russian society.

It clearly developed a whole network of agents inside the country that it was able to execute at -- or that it was able to activate in order to execute this operation. So I mean, to me, this really underscores and it's got to be abundantly clear to Putin at this point that Ukraine will maintain the capability to impose painful costs on Russia for the foreseeable future.

And that is really the goal of Ukrainians is to convince Putin such that he wakes up one day and see this indefinitely, and maybe then Ukraine can get to a point where they can negotiate with Ukraine from a more -- or, sorry, with Russia from a more genuine position than they are today.

COOPER: General Clark, you know, the psychological impact of this, I mean, a number of, you know -- one Russian blogger, I think it was, talked about this as kind of Russia's Pearl Harbor. In a war, how much does a psychological impact of an attack like this, what kind of effect does that have on morale, on a military conflict, potentially?

CLARK: Well, it's really been great for the Ukrainians' morale and for the Russians. It makes them fighting mad. And they're talking about nuclear weapons and other ways to retaliate. And so, you have to expect that this leads to an intensification of the conflict.

Really, Vladimir Putin is not going to quit until he thinks he's losing, actually about to lose. And so he's going to press through this. Ukraine has to do this. It's great. It's great for their morale. It's great for teaching the allies and the United States leadership that Ukraine does have cards.

It's not about to lose and it's not going to give up and it's not going to surrender. But to win this war and have the kind of peace that is sustainable, we have to convince Mr. Putin that he is losing. And we're a long way from that.

[20:40:09]

COOPER: Andrea, what kind of response do you expect from the Russians?

KENDALL-TAYLOR: Well, I think they're going to -- I mean, it is notable that we haven't seen Putin in public yet, just as when you have the major Purgosian mutiny, Putin often kind of isolates himself, removes himself until he's thought through what exactly it is that he wants to do.

But I would expect some sort of response. It's difficult, I think, for Russia to escalate even further from where they are right now because it's been notable that they've really intensified their attacks on Ukraine over the past month. I also think President Putin is going to want to demonstrate that those bombers and that that leg of his military is not irreparably damaged.

And so you could expect him to conduct some bomber patrols, perhaps in the Arctic, perhaps near Alaskan airspace, just to demonstrate that they may have taken this blow, but they can weather the storm.

COOPER: General, do you see any realistic hope for a ceasefire?

CLARK: I don't see anything realistic that can work in the near term, Anderson. I mean, Putin will come back. He's going to try to come back hard. He's going to come back, try to come back hard. He's going to come back hard against Ukraine and probably go after the civilian populace in Kharkiv and Sumy.

That's his strategic plan for the summer. He wants Odesa on the ground. He thinks he can do it. And so he's going to push through this. The fact that he hasn't taken, you know, gone to the public airways and so forth, as Andrea said, he's ducked it on a PR basis.

But they will come back hard and it will be difficult. And Ukraine needs greater Western military support and especially Patriot missiles resupplied by the United States, which we haven't done apparently.

COOPER: General Wesley Clark, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, thanks very much.

Coming up next, Palestinians seeking answers after the deadly shooting over the weekend near another aid distribution site. What Israel and the foundation that runs the center is saying ahead.

And later, the defense in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial questions his ex-assistant about old text messages she sent him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:47:08]

COOPER: We're learning more about a deadly incident over the weekend near an aid distribution site run by the U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. At least 31 people were killed and more than 200 wounded on Sunday, according to the Hamas run Palestinian Health Authority and hospital officials.

A warning, though, video you're about to see is graphic. There was chaos after gunshots rang out early Sunday morning as thousands of Palestinians tried to make their way to the aid site, hoping to be some of the first in line for food. The Israeli military said that allegations that soldiers fired on Gazans near within the aid site are false reports. Those were their words.

But an Israeli military source says IDF forces did fire what they said were warning shots towards the suspects approaching their position about a kilometer from the location. Meanwhile, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation or GHF, which has just been recently set up, which runs the site, insists there was no gunfire in the distribution center or surrounding area.

This is not the first incident, of course. Just last week, when GHF first opened its site, the Palestinian Health Ministry said 11 people were killed as crowds of desperate people tried to get supplies at packed facilities. Israel denied those reports.

Joining me now with more CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, what is the latest we know about what happened because there are conflicting accounts between Palestinian and Israeli officials?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, eyewitnesses as well as doctors at local hospitals and officials at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, they all say that the Israeli military opened fire on thousands of Palestinians who were headed towards an aid distribution site in southern Gaza. At least 31 people were killed. Nearly 200 were injured, according to the Ministry of Health. And all of this happened in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning.

Now, the Israeli military, for its part, says that they, quote, "did not fire at civilians" while they were near or within this humanitarian aid site. But what's important to note here is that separately, an Israeli military official has told us that they did, in fact, open fire on Palestinians about 1 kilometer away from that aid site. They characterized that gunfire as, quote, "warning shots".

But we understand that this incident actually happened at a place called the Al-Alam roundabout, which is 1 kilometer away from this aid site. And we're not reporting on any other shooting incident that happened closer to the site.

So it seems like Israeli officials are really denying that something happened closer to the aid site, which we are not suggesting that it did. And in fact, an Israeli military official acknowledging that there was a shooting about a kilometer away where the location of this shooting actually happens.

Now, beyond that, we've gotten accounts from individuals on the ground, eyewitnesses who describe drones, for example, that were coming overhead, warning people to get away from the area. But the gunfire was happening at the very same time, which made it almost impossible for people to flee.

[20:50:04]

In fact, there's even eyewitness accounts of individuals who got up to flee and were shot, sometimes in the head or in the chest, according to a number of doctors at local hospitals who examined the injured and the deceased. Now, all of this is because these individuals were on their way to this new aid site for this controversial U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It's the only reason why they were here in the middle of the night in an active combat zone, is in order to go to this aid site. And that's exactly what humanitarian aid officials who have opposed this new controversial mechanism have been warning about for weeks.

COOPER: Who exactly is behind the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation? I know it's described as Israeli and U.S.-backed and was formed because of criticism of the U.N.'s aid distribution, which Israeli authorities have said, you know, Hamas can take aid that goes to the U.N. or they're suspicious of the U.N.

Is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation the only one now distributing food and aid? And if so, who are they?

DIAMOND: Well, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation only exists because of those Israeli restrictions, because Israel has decided that this is the mechanism through which they want aid to enter, because they accuse Hamas of stealing aid that was going in through the U.N., something that Hamas and the U.N., I should note, both dispute.

Now, Israel is simultaneously allowing a very limited amount of trucks to go in through the United Nations and other non-profit organizations. But what they're not doing is they're not allowing those -- they're not giving sufficient, de-conflicted safe routes for those trucks to be distributed.

COOPER: And I just want to add, there would be fewer conflicting reports if international journalists were allowed into Gaza. Israel is still preventing journalists from entering Gaza.

DIAMOND: That's exactly right. This is an unprecedented blockade that Israel has carried out on a free press in the Gaza Strip. We have only been able to go into Gaza through limited embeds with the Israeli military for a few hours at a time. It gives a limited window into what's happening there.

Certainly, we have journalists in Gaza who are doing heroic work on a day to day basis. But there's no question that the world would benefit from international journalists going into Gaza and also for those Israeli officials who say that what's happening on the ground is being misreported, who accuse Hamas of, you know, sharing misinformation. Let us in.

COOPER: Jeremy Diamond, thanks very much.

Coming up next tonight, how the defense tried to poke holes in the testimony of Sean "Diddy" Combs' former assistant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:26]

COOPER: Today in the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking racketeering trial, one of his former assistants wrapped up three days of testimony. Mia, who testified under a pseudonym, claimed that Combs created what she called a toxic work environment and said that he physically and sexually abused her several times.

Then in cross examinations day, the defense grilled her about several text messages, which would appear to bolster their case. Messages of love and support she sent Combs after she worked for him.

CNN's Kara Scannell was in court today and joins us now. What was the cross examination of Mia like?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So both on Friday and today they were confronting her with their own words. And today that was these text messages that she sent Combs after she left. So his lawyer saying, you were no longer under his thumb. You were no longer being controlled by him like she had testified on direct.

So they read a number of these text messages. They're about a dozen or so over six years. And in one of them in 2019's now two years after she left, she texted him on her own out of the blue, not responding to anything, "Just thinking of you today and every day. Also no lie, last night I had a nightmare, I was trapped in an elevator with R. Kelly and I screamed for you and you came to my rescue. So thank you for that. Sending you love."

And his lawyer saying this is the man who was sexually assaulting you and you were saying he's your savior here.

And then in another text message from 2022, she texted him, "Hey, saw our doc on Netflix Top Ten. Congrats. Miss you." Combs says, "Love, love, love!" And Mia replies, "And I love, love, love you", with exclamation points.

So they're trying to show that --

COOPER: What was her response to the jury (ph)?

SCANNELL: Oh, her response to that was -- because they said, what are you doing here?

COOPER: Right.

SCANNELL: Why would you be texting him? And she said she was still brainwashed and she said she didn't realize what she was going through until very recently. So she's been in therapy. And that was another thing that his lawyer kept asking her about.

Like, it seems like your answer to a lot of this is, well, I'm learning this in therapy to try to kind of understand where she was at that time. But, you know, they just went through this repeatedly with her to try to build out that maybe this was not quite what she was testifying to on direct.

COOPER: It's possible also -- I mean, I don't know what's in her head, but that she wanted to maintain the benefits of having a connection to him for job opportunities or whatever down the road. SCANNELL: Yes, I mean, they -- she did not offer that as her --

COOPER: Right, yes.

SCANNELL: -- defense on this, but we did hear that from other witnesses who have said, well, there was no reason to be on his bad side. You know, you want someone that you maybe are scared of. You don't want to antagonize them. You want to stand their good side.

COOPER: And it seems like the number of people who testified they were scared of him is quite a lot.

SCANNELL: Yes. I mean, everyone that seemed to work for him has said that they were scared of him in some form of another, either maybe if they personally were not physically assaulted, that they had seen him assault other people. And they were just worried about the future issues they could have once they no longer work for him.

COOPER: All right, Kara Scannell, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Before we go, quick programming note. George Clooney stars in a special live broadcast of Broadway's Good Night and Good Luck. You can catch the Tony nominated play Saturday night, 7:00 p.m. Eastern here, live on CNN and streaming on CNN.com.

That's it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.