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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump Fires Zacharia After Just Five Days as Press Secretary; Trump Takes Campaign Blitz to Battleground Georgia; Trump Denies Responsibility For Starshield Slowdown In Ukraine; Tensions Remain High In U.S.-Ukraine Relationship; Police: 3 Boys & 25-Year-Old Teacher Killed In School Shooting; The Anti-Gang Operation Inside Haiti. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired October 16, 2026 - 20:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: ... if there are many children like her, if it's not just one teenager, but a thousand teenagers, not just one adult, but a million, then that is what will change Russia for the better.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: It's an absolutely incredible story from start to finish. Thanks so much to all of you for joining us. AC360 starts now.

[20:00:31]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening, from the Newsroom. We begin tonight with White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, out of the job she held for just five months. She only gave one press conference, which was Tuesday, and it ran less than -- excuse me -- days -- it ran less than 15 minutes. She now holds the new record for shortest employment of a top White House press official. First-term Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, the previous record holder, lasted six days longer than she did.

He posted today, records are made to be broken, but I take no pleasure in other people's pain. About an hour later, he added graciously, "Dear Katie Zacharia, speaking as the world's leading expert on short White House tenures. Turn off the news, go enjoy your family. In time, you'll realize that the universe did do a major favor."

Even the President who announced her hiring exactly seven days ago, seemed to be trying to soften the blow when he foreshadowed her departure earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, Katie's been treated very badly by the media very, very badly, very unfairly, I think. And I just spoke to her about it. I said, Katie, is this for you? Because, you know, she's been treated very rough and she's a nice person, very nice person. I've watched her for years on television. But I said, is this for you, Katie? Because honestly, you don't need this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, this comes, as you know, after she became the story herself, first with a press conference that was as poorly received inside the White House as it was short.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: I want to ask you a policy question. Has the U.S. stopped sharing intel with Ukraine?

KATIE ZACHARIA, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'll have to get back to you on that. He had a historic one-day war, and now we are, have a booming economy and a great relationship with Venezuela. The idea of not spending evenings with my kids are is completely unacceptable. So, my President, excuse me, my husband that's a good one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, just moments after that, and even before White House officials began telling reporters how bad they thought her performance was, Zacharia stepped on another rake with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCREESH: What state did she pass the bar exam in? You she's an attorney, where did she pass the bar exam? Which state?

TRUMP: Which state?

ZACHARIA: When I moved to China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, that was Tuesday. By Wednesday she was claiming she had misheard the question. Reports were out that she had taken and failed the California bar exam in 2011. And by yesterday, she was saying that experts in the field had told her it was okay to call herself a lawyer anyhow, just not an attorney. And then social media posts of her surfaced in which she quoted other posts describing her as an attorney.

By last night, after we left the air, she was doing damage control on Sean Hannity or trying to because he was not having any of it. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, HOSTS "HANNITY" ON THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL: You had your first moment as press secretary. It's been widely panned. I'm sure you're aware. Am I hearing that you think the staff should have prepped you better? So, you said you consulted with many people, and they advised you that it was okay to call yourself a lawyer, but not an attorney, correct?

ZACHARIA: Correct.

HANNITY: Okay, there's a report out tonight that showed 15 social media posts where you identify yourself as an attorney. Why only three questions in 14 minutes? And what might you do a little differently going forward?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, this morning, in the wake of that, she was asked whether she still had the confidence of the President. Here's how she answered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACHARIA: I am standing here and I was able to travel with him through all of the midterm convention or, excuse me, the midterm rallies, and I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, she is now not getting that chance. CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us now from the White House with more. So, you have some new reporting on the vetting process that she underwent. What have you learned?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the question is, was there a lot of vetting that went into this? And, Anderson, according to multiple White House officials and advisers, the short answer to that is no. Instead, her selection came amid growing frustration from President Donald Trump himself that there were not enough voices out there on the airwaves really defending him during this midterm coverage. And as his approval rating has hit an all-time low.

So, while her firing was swift, her hiring was also swift. There had been a vacancy in this press secretary role for a number of weeks after Karoline Leavitt departed, and Trump did not seem to be in a rush to fill that role.

In fact, he said it multiple times that he was not worried about having someone in that position. But as he selected Zacharia, there were a number of names that were out there, had been floated, had been discussed, some of them publicly.

Zacharia, though, seemed to come a bit out of nowhere. She is a conservative commentator. She had been on T.V. those appearances ended up serving as somewhat of an audition for the President. He thought she could step into this role, and her selection came after some of the others that were being considered were deemed ineligible for some past critical comments that they had made about Trump.

[20:05:47]

But going back on this timeline, she found out that she was going to be in this role on Friday. The first official day was on Monday, and then on Tuesday was that press briefing. It lasted for roughly 14 minutes.

It was stumbly; she had her opening statements. She referenced her notes frequently throughout that. And then she only took questions from three reporters there in the room. So, there was growing concern, but it did seem, though Trump was less concerned than some in his orbit about this. In fact, on a flight to Alaska --

COOPER: Do you know what--

BENBROOK: -- to Alaska shortly after that. Yes, on that flight shortly after that, he told her that she did do a good job. Obviously, some of that changed.

COOPER: Do you know what ultimately led President Trump to fire her?

BENBROOK: He was not happy with the coverage of that press conference as time went on. And he saw the negative reviews out there. But there was also another moment that really showed kind of a gap in understanding a learning curve that needed to happen at that event there in Alaska that I referenced, she had scheduled for him to do an interview following that, many had advised her that that was not the thing to do, that after he does these two-hour events, he does not want to do more interviews.

So again, just showing that there was a lot to learn in this role, in this position.

COOPER: Yes, Julia Benbrook, appreciate it. In Florida with President, thanks, joining us now is former White House Press Secretary for President Bill Clinton, Joe Lockhart and CNN political director David Chalian.

Joe, you heard CNN's new reporting, Zacharia didn't undergo a vetting process essentially, before she was really offered the press secretary job by the President. Given how this President operates, does that surprise you at this point?

JOE LOCKHART, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Not really, I mean, I think many of the senior positions in the White House and in the government are filled via watching Fox News or any of the right-wing outlets, and it doesn't appear, looking from the outside, that he takes the substance of these jobs very seriously.

He takes the appearance of these jobs and most importantly, how those people speak about him. And he had plenty of data on her watching her speak very highly of him. And that seemed to be enough.

COOPER: What do you think ultimately sealed her fate, David?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, I think the President realized that this was an error that was blowing up in his face. And I don't think we can separate the timing out here, too.

You know, Anderson, we're 18 days away from the midterm election. And this, to me is just another data point in how much defense Republicans are playing. And so, if the main sort of messaging and communications operation out of the White House is supposed to be geared towards doing everything possible to help Republicans mitigate some of these expected losses as best they can. This was a complete failure in that. And we don't usually see Donald Trump sort of correct mistakes this quickly, but he clearly saw that this was not a tenable situation and moved pretty quickly to get rid of her.

COOPER: And, Joe, you've been clear. You didn't think she was qualified to be the White House press secretary. Do you think it was the right decision for the President to cut his losses this quickly and move on?

LOCKHEART: Well, listen, I don't think she had even the minimum qualifications for the job and more importantly, didn't do any of the preparation that should go into that job. It is an important job. That's an important room. The world looks to that room at times for what America thinks, what America is doing, what our values are, and it's become somewhat, in my view, somewhat of somewhat of a joke.

I think in this case, he's responding to, you know, outside coverage, not actually what happened. And they used this thing about the attorney as a cover. So, it didn't look like it was his fault. He has made a mistake but has somehow messaged this around the media is at fault and this woman is at fault rather than him. All very convenient, but not particularly credible.

COOPER: And David, I mean it is kind of amazing. We're 18 days away from the midterm elections. Theres now no White House spokesperson, and she's let go. And Kimberly Guilfoyle also is fired. It says a lot just about, A, how decisions are made and the West Wing, how it is or is not functioning.

[20:10:13]

CHALIAN: Yes, Anderson, last week when he put out on Truth Social that Katie Zacharia was going to be the new press secretary, and immediately our reporting from our White House team was that this came as a surprise to many insiders inside the West Wing.

I mean, that just shows the lack of the vetting process, the lack of the normal sort of seriousness with which a hire like this would take place, and sort of shooting from the hip. And the fact that that is how they're operating, that the President is choosing to operate his White House, especially this close to an election, I just think speaks to just this enormous amount of defense that they're playing.

It reminds me of the Haley Barbour expression, you know, when things are going well, you know, they get better. And when things are going bad, they get worse. And this is the environment Republicans find themselves in. And the President offered up yet another data point of things getting worse for Republicans at this time.

COOPER: Joe, I've got to say, I was very impressed with Anthony Scaramucci's post. I mean, I thought it was just incredibly gracious him saying he said, dear, you know, Katie Zacharia, speaking as the world's leading expert on short White House tenure. Turn off the news, go enjoy your family. In time, you'll realize the universe did you a major favor. Do you think he's right?

LOCKHEART: Yes, I think it's right. I think it speaks to Anthony. I think, you know, Anthony's a very bright, thoughtful guy who has put in the wrong job at the wrong time.

But I think he is, you know, certainly recovered from that, and I think it was the right sentiment. You know, I think, you know, that we should have some sympathy for, you know, for this woman because she was put in an impossible situation and then and moved out. And, you know, I guess in our culture that it doesn't matter why you have 15 minutes of fame, you get it. You'll have a platform, there'll be some place out there where she'll make her name here and she'll be fine.

It's just, it continues to bother me that kind of every one of these institutions that the President touches, he cheapens in a way that serves him rather than the reason there, we don't have an East Wing. The Kennedy Center is covered up. He's put his name on everything and all of them, I think, have less value than before he got there.

COOPER: Yes, and a lot of shoddy work also being done in various places. What do you think happens, David, with the White House press secretary role now? I mean, does it go unfilled past until the midterms?

CHALIAN: It's a good question, Anderson. You know, as Julia was noting in her report to you, he had publicly said the President that he wasn't in a hurry to fill it when Karoline Leavitt left. it's also just such a unique position specifically for this President, given he is constantly speaking on his own behalf in a way that other Presidents usually don't. And so, it sort of questions the value of this position.

I will be very interested to see if he thinks in these next 18 days, he wants someone else speaking for him at that podium, or if he's just going to dictate the messaging himself from here on out in this election season.

COOPER: David Chalian, Joe Lockhart appreciate it, thank you.

Coming up next, the President in a deep red corner of Georgia's new signs point to the electorate trending bluer in a number of districts around the country, the President won by double digits just two years ago.

And later, all we are learning about the three young lives taken at an elementary school in Oregon. The teacher who was killed trying to save them, and the bystander who ran toward danger and killed the 16-year- old shooter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:43]

COOPER: Just 18 days out from the midterms, the President was in Dalton, Georgia, today, a part of the state he won by 44 points in 2024.

If any place would be receptive to the line he's been delivering, almost every place he goes, this would be it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You have to pretend I'm on the ballot. Okay, the story is this, we get 49 percent more votes when I'm on the ballot. When I'm not on the ballot, I guess it's a compliment, but people don't show up so much. You have to go out and vote. So, pretend I'm on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: He's asking that, though, with his job approval numbers at record lows for him, and with inflation rising and oil today at $110.00 a barrel, none of which has made him temper statements like this one today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This has been considered by, I think, almost everyone to be the most successful two years, and we're not even close to the two years. We've got four months to go of a President in history. It's the most successful two years of a presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, whatever Dalton, Georgia might make of that claim, there was another sign today of trouble for Republicans. Even in deep red districts, the cook political report shifting 11 more House races closer toward Democrats, including five likely Republican races to lean Republican.

Cook also reiterated an open seat in Montana's first district from lean Republican to toss up. The President was there campaigning just two days ago.

Joining us now is former Republican Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, CNN political commentator Sabrina Singh and "New York Times" journalist and podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro.

So, Governor Pawlenty, does it make sense to you? The President is promoting this reality in which there is low inflation and prices are coming down and gas prices are way down, and that the economy is in a golden age. Do you think he can convince his base to not believe what many may be seeing with their own eyes?

TIM PAWLENTY, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA: Well, the voters may not appreciate that fully based on his current approval ratings. But keep in mind one important thing in the closing days of this campaign, Anderson, is to get the base out. Each party wants to maximize base support, and among the hardcore Republican base, President Trump still remains pretty popular.

So, optimizing or maximizing that turnout is one variable they can do to try to improve the outlook going into what's going to be a tough midterm for Republicans.

COOPER: Sabrina, you worked for the Biden administration. It's widely believed President Biden, subsequently, Vice President Harris did not take economic realities serious enough for voters or could not explain them. Is President Trump, do you think making that same mistake?

[20:20:14]

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he is, Anderson. I mean, when I was in the Biden administration, you know, we kept saying inflation was transitory. But the reality is that people did not feel like the economy was working for them.

And we didn't acknowledge that pain that they were feeling, whether it was at grocery stores or, you know, everyday bills. And so, I think the fact that the President is trying to say that the economy is better than ever when you have gas prices, grocery prices, health care costs going up through the roof, this is exactly what the President campaigned against.

And I think this election will be decided on the economy and corruption. And I think that's what's really motivating Democrats right now to get out and vote and to vote against this President who keeps saying, you know, pretend like I'm on the ballot.

Well, damn right, Democrats are going to pretend like you're on the ballot. And were very motivated to get out there and vote right now.

COOPER: Lulu, we mentioned that the Cook Political Report shifting 11 more house seats toward Democrats in red states. This is amid the Presidents final campaign blitz. What do you think that signals or do you believe, I mean, do you believe --

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It signals that, I mean, I think it's hard to know. But everything tells us at this point that, as we've been hearing just on the show over and over, things are looking pretty bleak. And that's why the President is hustling everywhere that he can, trying to get votes wherever he can. But I think one of the main takeaways that I have from this is not that he needs to explain the economy better.

You know, Donald Trump has learned his lesson in the sense that he likes to create his own reality. But the fact is that the reality is that things are bad. And so, you can't explain that away. You can't message that away. That isn't something that you can just go out and put on a red hat and wave an American flag and say, everything's okay. Because at the end of the day, people see those gas prices. It's not something that is about optics or messaging. It's about actually what people are having to pay at the pump and at the grocery store, et cetera, et cetera.

COOPER: Governor Pawlenty, I just want to play another part of the President's speech in Georgia today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I call him Pee-Wee Herman. Pee-Wee Herman, he looks like Pee-

Wee. His name is Jon Ossoff, highly overrated. Somebody said he's a good-looking man. I don't think he's a good-looking man I actually think Mike Collins is a good-looking man.

And he's all man. He's all man. I'm not sure about Ossoff. If I am casting a movie for a senator, I like the white hair. I like the big, strong build, big, strong guy. But that's what I want. But he's a respected man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I'm not sure what he was insinuating about Ossoff, but why does he keep commenting on men's appearances? I mean, it's sort of fascinating to me.

PAWLENTY: You know, he says all kinds of things that are sort of entertaining. But you know what the voters want to hear is what's going on with my pocketbook, what's going on with affordability, what's going on in the economy? And what can you say about bringing prices down? Even if you can't do it in the next 18 days, can you have a plan to bring them down further? That's the number one issue, and I don't think voters are going to be that interested in the relative good looks or not, of candidates on the ballot.

COOPER: Yes, I mean, Sabrina, I mean, he's, you know, commenting on men's asses, which you don't hear a lot from presidents of the United States ever, really. Do Democrats run the risk? You think, Sabrina, being too confident in this polling, given what we have seen pretty much every election?

SINGH: Well, certainly, again, you know, the President's comments, I think the governor hit on it. It's just kind of strange, a little, little quirky.

I do think that, you know, Democrats have to be cautiously optimistic. I think we feel good and bullish about the House changing hands. And to the Democrats, we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to flipping the senate. And I think that's why you're seeing Democratic leadership from all sort of parts of our big tent party campaigning across the country, because we can't take that for granted.

So, for every dollar, every door, every vote, we got to get out there. We got to earn it because we just can't take anything for granted right now. And the polls are going to tighten. I think you're going to see that even in some House races. So, we just have to keep up the energy right now.

COOPER: And Lulu, I want to play you something else the President said today about Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's as bad almost as Mohamed Abdul El-Sayed. You know, I took a lot of heat for calling him Mohammed. And I said, I don't care, I'm the President of the United States. I can call you whatever the hell I want I can call you whatever I want, Mohammed.

And then today, a guy sends me something. His name is actually Abdullah bah-bah-bah-bah-bah, Mohammed El-Sayed. So, his middle name is Mohammed. So, I was right almost.

Oh, by the way, how about that guy? He's a Jihadist. He's a radical left person; he hates our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: How do you think? I mean, do you think that works for the people he wants to turn out?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, I mean, I think it's racist, obviously. He's using, Mohammed as a sort of slur when it's the name of the prophet and for Muslims. And then beyond that, it's just more of the same. And again, I think at the, at other moments in time, you know, he was able to create these culture war moments. I'm not sure Abdul El-Sayed is going to win, by the way, but I don't think he's not going to win because President Trump calls him Mohammed.

I think he might not win because people might not like his policies, because people have legitimate questions about whether he represents their values. I mean, that's all fair game, this stuff is a sideshow.

COOPER: Sabrina Singh, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Tim Pawlenty, appreciate it. Thanks very much.

Coming up next, fresh signs that the already rocky relationship between the President and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky is at a new low and dangerously so for Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:30:33]

COOPER: Well, as Russian missiles continue to bring death and destruction to Ukraine's cities, the relationship between that country's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and President Trump may have reached its lowest point yet, arguably even more tense than the contentious meeting in the Oval Office in February 2025, where President Trump told Zelenskyy, quote, "You don't have the cards."

Since the announcement of a U.S. deal to allow Russia to sell diesel fuel on the global market, the President has lashed out at the Ukrainian leader, calling him a, quote, "dictator without elections on social media," and saying this in an interview last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I find Zelenskyy to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: More difficult to deal with than the Russian dictator. Today, the President softened his tone somewhat, telling reporters that his relationship with Zelenskyy is good. He also told reporters that he was not behind what Ukrainian officials said was an unannounced and unexplained slowdown in the speed of the military's version of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet services, called Starshield, which are critical to Ukrainian defenses and drone attacks against Russian forces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It wasn't us. I checked it this morning. They say it's the same as it always has been.

I don't know if it was anybody because it wasn't me and I don't think it was Elon. And from I understand, it's the same as it's always been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, Zelenskyy, for his part, made his response clear in what he didn't say when asked about the President's recent troubles on the world stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you are being treated as a scapegoat for his own problems?

(LAUGHTER)

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: This is my answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining us now is CNN Global Affairs Analyst Brett McGurk, who held senior national security posts under the last four presidents. He's also author of the fascinating new book called, "Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages," which is on bookshelves now.

Brett, I want to get to the book in a moment. At first, though, CNN reported Ukraine has run out of missiles for the Patriot air defense system, according to a source. Given the urgent need to defend their cities, how bad is this tension between the U.S. and Ukraine, whoever is responsible for whatever happened with this Starshield system?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, Anderson, I think it's a grim picture. If you step back and you're a strategist, we're kind of in a global conflict environment. I don't want to be overly alarmist.

We've talked about crank on this program. China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and just take Ukraine as exhibit A. You know, Russia is now producing, Anderson, 6,000 Shahed drones a month, half of those now rocket propelled. That's Iranian technology that Iran transferred to Russia.

Russia is producing 200 ballistic missiles per month. And we're in this new age of missile warfare and just targeting civilian and energy infrastructure. And Russia is just determined to pound Ukraine now heading into the winter. And to keep up with the defenses for that, we just can't -- we have a math problem.

And you see this coordination between these other powers. North Korea sent tens of thousands of troops to the -- for the Russians to help in its fight against Ukraine. And if you're Putin, you're not making any advances on the ground. Russia is losing 30,000, 35,000 casualties every month.

But now he believes he has dominance in the air. And heading into winter, he always believes he can break the will of the Ukrainians in the winter months by targeting civilian infrastructure, electricity, energy, heating systems. And I think that's what we're heading into.

The answer to that is consolidation amongst Western allies. And unfortunately, we don't have that. So I think we're heading into a very difficult winter period here, as we're also dealing, of course, with the conflict in Iran and, you know, China waiting in the wings. It's a grim global national security environment, from what I'm seeing.

COOPER: In your new book, you really bring people into the rooms where decisions were being made. The book is called "Brink" and again, it's on bookstores -- in bookstores right now. I mean, you're taking people into complex negotiations to try to free the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas in 2023.

You have two sides with seemingly intractable positions. How did you find a way to bridge the gap? How did people find a way to bridge the gap?

[20:35:00]

MCGURK: Yes, we're talking about Russia, Ukraine -- and "Brink," Anderson, you're right. I try to bring readers into the room, into all the rooms, from Washington to the Oval Office situation room, to overseas, sitting with Netanyahu or sitting with intelligence chiefs, with Hamas on one floor, Israel on the other.

And from October 8th on, Hamas had one position. If you want the hostages, we stay in power. We will reconstitute on Israel's borders, and we go back to October 6th status quo. And Israel's position was, after what happened on October 7th, Hamas will never remain in power in Gaza. And the hostages were caught in between that.

And in the book, I tell the story of the negotiations and how protracted they were. You know, Anderson, we had a deal a month into the war for all women and children. Very hard to get that deal. We eventually got it.

And on the 8th night, and if you're in the book, the reader is with me at this moment, you know, Hamas sends a message and says, you know what, we're going to hold on to the younger women. These were women taken from the Nova music festival. And Anderson, you covered this story with just such compassion over that period. And we face this moral dilemma. Do you skip the younger women and talk about the older men who are also in rough shape? And at that moment, the decision was made, if you skip the younger women, they'll never come out. And if you -- all the way through the book, at the end, you know, three of these women, Romi, Doron, and Emily, one taken from Nova, another taken from a kibbutz called Kfar Aza, where also a young American toddler was taken hostage when her parents were killed in front of her, eventually come out in the deal we eventually brokered.

But that story runs through the book. And in the backdrop, Anderson, and one reason it's called Brink, is that we are constantly on the brink of an all-out regional war. You had the Iranians organizing their proxy forces with multiple missile and drone attacks.

You get a flavor reading this book of what that's like, how hard it is to defend. And I just tried to tell the story as it was in the immediacy of the moment. And the reader is kind of right there, you know, with all these leaders, intel chiefs, as we're trying to contain, deter --

COOPER: Yes.

MCGURK: -- and ultimately get the ceasefire and get the hostages out. That was the goal.

COOPER: Yes. The level of detail in the book is extraordinary. It's called "Brink."

Brett McGurk, thank you so much.

MCGURK: Thanks, Anderson.

Up next, new details about the deadly shooting at a Bend, Oregon elementary school, including the quick heroic actions of a parent and a teacher.

And later, a CNN exclusive inside the fight to take back Haiti from violent gangs and the role a controversial military contractor is playing in that effort.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:41]

COOPER: Tonight, we're learning more about the deadly shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. Authorities say the victims were all shot in a special needs classroom. One of the three students killed was 5-year-old Rhoam Summer. The families of the two other students killed, an 8-year-old boy and 11-year-old boy, have declined to make their names public.

The teacher killed was 25-year-old Megan Lambert. She grew up in Bend. Also tonight, we know the identity of the armed bystander who killed the teen shooter. His name is Kaylub Giamanco, a father whose two children attend the school. CNN's Nick Watt is in Bend, Oregon, tonight with more. So what more have we learned about the two victims that have been identified by law enforcement?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Rhoam Summer, as you said, Anderson, 5 years old, 5 years old. The 8 and the 11-year-old, we haven't been given their names yet. Megan Lambert, 25-year-old teacher, her family said that this was her first job. This was her dream job.

And in a statement, they said, "Megan was compassionate, had a huge heart. She always fought for the underdog and those with special needs. She was an incredible sister, daughter, niece and granddaughter. Her friends became her family. She was funny and opinionated, and she lit up the room." Dead at 25. Anderson?

COOPER: And obviously, I mean, this father who was able to stop the shooter is extraordinary -- the bravery. Do we know anything more about him?

WATT: Yes, so he is 36 years old. We're told by officials he was just passing by, saw the shooter go in, stopped. He had a legal handgun in his glove box, a .40 caliber pistol. He followed the gunman in.

When he got into that classroom, he saw a teacher who had thrown her cell phone at the shooter and was then wrestling with him. So this man, Kaylub Giamanco, then shot the shooter multiple times.

Now, on this memorial behind me, Anderson, a bunch of kids have been writing in chalk and a lot of them have written, thank you, Kaylub. Now, without him and that teacher, this would have been much worse. This could have been much worse.

The shooter, we're told, had 44 rounds of ammunition still on him after he was taken out. Now, Kaylub's mother has said, listen, he doesn't want any gratitude. He doesn't want any recognition. He's just grateful to all the other people who helped out.

COOPER: And beyond the three children, one teacher killed, there was another child, another teacher who were shot, survived. Do we know how they are doing?

WATT: Yes. Yes, they're doing well. So 54-year-old Becky Drury, she was a special ed assistant. She, we're told, has had serious but not life-threatening injuries. The other person injured, the 7-year-old, 7-year-old, we're told, is in a critical but stable condition.

So non-life-threatening and stable. Those are probably the best words, the best news that have come out of Bend, Oregon today --

COOPER: Yes.

WATT: -- in a mess of absolute pain and silence. People here say the real thing that they're missing is the noise. There are no kids playing. There are no kids laughing, just silence.

COOPER: Yes.

WATT: Anderson?

COOPER: Nick Watt, thanks very much. I appreciate it.

CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Analyst John Miller joins me now. I mean, the actions, again, of this dad, the teacher who threw her cell phone at the shooter, tackled him are pretty incredible. I mean, obviously, both of their actions save lives.

[20:45:08]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: No, that is quite clear, Anderson. And, I mean, for an individual armed with a gun to go up against another individual armed with a gun, a bigger gun, albeit, is an act of tremendous courage. But for a 25- year-old teacher who's armed with nothing to throw her cell phone at the subject to distract him from shooting and then attack him and wrestle him for the gun, that's extraordinary courage.

You know, what they teach them in these drills is run, hide, or fight. And there was no running at that point. He was shooting at children. There was no hiding. And she decided to fight. Incredible courage demonstrated by both of them.

And this, on picture day, where the children came in their Sunday best to get their pictures taken, and for some of those families, the pictures will be delivered home, but the children will not. It's really unspeakable, both the tragedy and the courage.

COOPER: This killer had 44 remaining rounds of ammunition. He'd also shot at a car when someone tried to confront him before going into the school. It certainly talks -- and he had been to this school, it certainly tells you something about his preparation or, I mean, does it tell you anything about his mindset?

MILLER: Well, it does. I mean, number one, it tells us he was extraordinarily mission-focused. We know things tonight that we did not know today and did not know last night when we spoke about this. But as he's approaching the school, he's carrying the shotgun.

This is about a 12-minute walk from his home where he lived with his mom. He gets to the fence. He throws the gun over the fence. Then he's scaling the fence. And at that point, the person in that red pickup truck we just saw with the bullet holes in it starts yelling at him, engaging him, saying, where are you going? What are you doing with a gun? And he opens fire on that vehicle.

So he starts right in at the first sign of any interference or resistance to go aggressive, shoots his way through the glass doors, and then crawls through the broken glass to get in, and goes straight to that special needs classroom. Anderson, this has tremendous meaning. We don't fully understand what that meaning is yet.

But what it tells us is he was a student in that special needs class when he was 10 years old. So six years ago, he could have gone to the school he went to after that or if he was going to a school now. We don't know if he was being homeschooled or not. But he chose to go back to that place.

If he fits the profile of many of these shooters, an injustice collector who believes that all of his problems are the fault of other people, this may be where he identified, you know, those problems started or where he was first felt picked on or ostracized, whether it was from people in that class or people outside that class. But he was definitely fixed on going to that school, that classroom, and killing people that he didn't know, that hadn't affected his life in some kind of reaction to his unhappiness.

COOPER: Yes. John Miller, I appreciate you --

MILLER: And don't look for it to make sense. I mean, it rarely does to us.

COOPER: Yes. It rarely does. Thank you.

Coming up, Nick Paton Walsh got exclusive access to an operation led by security contractors working with security forces in Haiti to combat gang violence in the country. We'll bring you his report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:52:52]

COOPER: Well, Haiti, as we've reported extensively on this program over the years, has had more than a share of troubles from poverty, mismanagement, devastating earthquakes in 2021 and 2010, as well as political turmoil and gang violence. The U.N. estimates that 70 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, is now in the hands of armed gangs who've destroyed hospitals and infrastructure and terrorized residents.

A former U.S. Navy SEAL who's a well-known private security tycoon, Erik Prince, formerly the CEO of Blackwater, has been contracted to help Haiti's security forces go after gangs.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh got exclusive access to their operation. And we want to warn you, some of what you're about to see is graphic. Here's Nick's report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Haiti is so stifled and tormented by gangs, the fight against them has spread to hills outside the capital, Port-au-Prince.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We are in misery. Kenscoff is in misery. The bandits killed our families, our kids. We had to run away far from home.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Here in Kenscoff, they were pushed out, but stormed back in again, killing and kidnapping dozens of locals in revenge. We joined police on a days-long advance to reclaim tiny remote villages with blaring faces for security.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): The guys are shooting. We cannot stay here. We are exposed.

(Speaking Foreign Language)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit, sit.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): But as we move in with the police, the gangs use the fog and hills to keep shooting.

PATON WALSH: You can see that debris barrier there. I mean, another way the gang slowed the police down. About seven or eight shots have kind of flown over us. We've heard the crack. It's a sign that the gangs are still really close by and don't want the police over to feel comfortable down here. There's another one.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): More barricades lie ahead. Locals eager on the road to get back to homes they've not seen for two years.

[20:55:05]

The barricades dismantled and burned, so the gangs can't return and remake them.

PATON WALSH: It was an extraordinary scene of locals just flooding in to kind of reclaim their own streets after the gangs are being pushed out.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): A ritual praising the heavens, overshadowed by ruin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): The gangs leave their youngest members behind while they run away.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Hours earlier, two helicopters used a pause in the rain to land a police SWAT team in the hill tops. The helicopters are part of American security tycoon Erik Prince's operation here, bringing new capabilities and the experience of foreign ex-Special Forces, but not for free.

And these are the first pictures of Prince's private security fighters in Haiti, who led the push with specialized Haitian police in what's called the task force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hear a lot of things about you.

PATON WALSH: You see up here?

PATON WALSH (voice-over): He tells the police where to position.

Nobody has seen their operations in Haiti before, and this drone footage shows gang members fleeing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. PATON WALSH (voice-over): Erik Prince made his name and millions in Iraq with Blackwater sullied and reprimanded over civilian casualties there. His ties to Blackwater long severed. He is now selling a new idea, that private security mercenaries to their detractors can tackle security or gang problems for failing states that can't.

ERIK PRINCE, VECTUS GLOBAL FOUNDER: You know, that's the bad city, right? That's the bad part right there.

PATON WALSH: Yes.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): He was first sent to Haiti as a Navy SEAL 32 years ago, and now he gave CNN his first interview and access to his operation here.

PRINCE: This is when we started, a police truck like the one we rode in here on. Pretty much one of those was lost every week, attacked, ambushed, burned, the occupant slaughtered, butchered. That's done now because there's much better response, quicker air support, drones, whatever that prevents the police from being overmatched. That's really why we're here.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Over 2,000 drone strikes on varied targets in the past year. A task force source said here, and what they said was a gang Molotov cocktail factory. Prince wouldn't reveal his annual fee of likely tens of millions of dollars, but on top of that, he gets a 10th of any new customs revenue generated if his Lena operation ends smuggling a dozens of illegal border crossings.

PATON WALSH: Did you put a number on what your contract is worth in terms of what the Haitian government pay you?

PRINCE: The previous U.N. force is that our cost is 1/6 of what their annual camp cost was. So it's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): He had aimed to free up key roads within a year here, but hasn't. Although the U.N. has said this year has seen the gang spread in the capital halted, even reversed.

PATON WALSH: You haven't killed any major gang leaders yet. Have there been challenges in some of the operations you're doing? Is not killing top leaders' part of your strategy?

PRINCE: Look, insurgencies are not defeated by taking out just leadership. I know there's been obsession of that in the United States, but wars are won by taking significant numbers of enemy manpower off the battlefield. We are in the process of doing that and enabling sovereignty to resume.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): To grasp the enormity of the collapse and daily trauma, we head to the once vibrant downtown of the capital, so long gang held, sways of it are now overgrown, as though nature is tired of the violence and wants to take back control.

We patrol at dawn, with the new U.N.-mandated gang suppression force here, soldiers from Chad (ph). First light, when those who live under the gangs, make their daily break for it to head out to the rest of the world on foot through rivers of sewage and trash to reach work or food.

A body lies abandoned in the road, likely dumped there overnight.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): We go back with them at dusk to see it all happen again for the home trip.

PATON WALSH: We will talk about how desperate life must be here to attempt this in the daylight must simply be terrifying. It's eerie being here inside an armored personnel carrier, but they're risking it out on the street here in the dark. Many of them carrying looks like food for their homes, things back into gang-held areas.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): The promise of a quick fix at a price that's still out of reach.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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That's all for us. The news continues. Hope you have a great weekend. The Source starts now.