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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Boulder Attack Suspect Charged With Federal Hate Crime; Now: Senate Returns With Trump Tax Bill At Top Of Agenda; Boulder Officials: 16 Unused Molotov Cocktails Found At Scene. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired June 02, 2025 - 16:00 ET
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SANCHEZ: "THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT" starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. We are starting today as we follow breaking news because soon the
suspect in Sunday's antisemitic attack will make his first appearance in court. Boulder police say Mohammed Sabry Soliman used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices to set multiple people on fire. He has been charged with a federal hate crime, and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terror.
In just minutes, state and federal law enforcement officials are expected to provide more information at a news conference. And we will bring that live to you, of course, right here on CNN.
Authorities say Soliman targeted a Jewish community event to raise awareness for the Israeli hostages in Gaza. In videos from the scene of this tragedy. The suspect can be heard shouting "Free Palestine".
We do want to warn you, some of what you're about to see and hear is quite disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't do nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: At least eight people were injured, including a survivor of the Holocaust. That person's condition is unknown, but officials say at least one victim was very seriously injured.
As the attack unfolded, bystanders quickly rushed to douse the flames caused by what sources say was a garden sprayer filled with gasoline. The suspect is also believed to have used Molotov cocktails, and authorities located 14 unlit Molotov cocktails in the area after his arrest.
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ED VICTOR, WITNESS: From my point of view, all of a sudden, I felt the heat like it was a Molotov cocktail equivalent. A gas bomb in a glass jar. Thrown of sort, a big flame as high as a tree. And all I saw was someone on fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Multiple law enforcement sources tell CNN that Soliman is an Egyptian national who received a temporary work permit in 2023. The Department of Homeland Security says that visa expired earlier this year, and that he has stayed in the country illegally since then.
Earlier today, President Trump addressed this tragedy. He wrote this quote. He came in through Biden's ridiculously open border policy, which has hurt our country so badly. He must go out under Trump policy, end quote. We're going to start our coverage here with CNN's senior crime and
justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz. He joins us now live from Boulder.
Shimon, you've been reporting on this throughout the day. What more are we learning about the suspect here?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So, we've learned quite a bit of information because of the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office. They have released information in a new complaint that they filed charging this man with the hate crime. And one of the most significant things I think we have learned here is that he had been planning this, according to the FBI, for a year, having come across this group on Facebook. He learned of them and that they say he has basically told them in an alleged confession that he had been planning this for a year.
As you said, they found 14 unlit Molotov cocktails as they described them in this container that they were able to obtain from this individual. Also very significant, they have found paperwork, they say, inside his car here at the scene where he makes references to Israel and Palestine.
And they say that he admitted to them, to investigators, to all the purchases, all of the what they say is gasoline that was found in the canisters that he used in these bottles, these wine carafes that he filled with gasoline, gasoline that the FBI says he purchased on his way here. He drove here. And that they also say that he admitted to them that he wanted to kill all Zionist people.
And as I said, he learned of this group online. And he said in his planning, one of the reasons why he waited for a year, according to this affidavit, was because he was waiting for his daughter to graduate. They also say that at his home, there was a journal. He admitted to this journal being at his home, and that he also left his iPhone at home, where he left a message for his family.
So investigators here, according to them, have a lot of evidence that they are working with, the -- all the evidence that they were able to gather here. Obviously, all of the cell phone video, but they also now believe they have the motive here in his own writing, in his own words, in a confession and an alleged confession that he gave to investigators.
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HUNT: Quite a bit of evidence there. Shimon, stand by for us.
I want to bring in CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.
We're also joined by CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. And in just a moment, we're going to talk to our panel, CNN political commentator Jonah Goldberg, CNN contributor, "New York Times" journalist and podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro, former communications director for the Democratic National Committee, Mo Elleithee, and former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, Marc Short.
But John Miller, let me come back to you.
We obviously heard Shimon run down there. All of the evidence so far that seems to have been collected here. We're set to hear from prosecutors in just a few moments here later on in the hour.
What are your top questions here? And what do you think we should be paying attention to digging into as we cover this really, really terrible tragedy?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, there's a lot to be taken in by this. If you just go through the inventory that Shimon gave us of the evidence there, you know, the long planning arc, did he discuss this with anybody? Did he share it with family or friends? If he didn't tell somebody directly what he was planning to do, was there leakage? Did he say things that could have given people some kind of hint that could have allowed someone to report this?
We don't know enough about that right now. One thing that strikes me, though, Kasie, is just like the shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in late May, what you see is an individual who has a very tight plan to do something that's low tech, low cost, but that is going to have a real impact who then remains on the scene.
He's not looking to escape. He's not looking to fight it out with police. In both cases, they just stayed there and they owned these acts. And this is somewhat unusual.
HUNT: When you say somewhat unusual, I mean, can you explain what in terms of, you know, from your law enforcement perspective what that means, what that tells you what other past events you'd compare it to?
MILLER: Well, what we've seen here in New York City, based on my experience with the cases we had, is we had the Chelsea bombing. He set the bombs, left the bombs, the bombs blew up, and, you know, he attempted to evade police. It appears that he intended to do more bombings.
We had the West Side ramming attack where the individual actually pulled out two fake guns and pointed them at police. And what we believe then and still believe now was an attempt at suicide by police to achieve some kind of martyrdom for his act on behalf of ISIS.
And we had a third individual who tried to do a suicide bombing on the subway.
In each of these cases, what you saw was individuals who either intended to be killed in the course of it or intended to escape. And here, in rapid succession, we see three cases, the Pennsylvania governors house firebombing with Molotov cocktails, the Jewish Museum shooting, and this instance where if they weren't captured immediately by police, they waited around. And in the Pennsylvania case, and there may be some mental health or drug related issues in that suspects background. He actually went to the police and turned himself in. So, there is something going on with these offenders where they are
not just willing to do the act and maybe do the time, but they also seem to be seeking the recognition after the fact.
HUNT: Really, really tough stuff.
Juliette Kayyem, you have written an essay here for "The Atlantic" out today.
Excuse me? Under the headline the performative intimacy of antisemitic terror. And you say the latest attacks on Jews in America inevitably, inevitably betray their real motive. Sheer hate.
Tell us a little bit more about what you've written here.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah. Well, it really does pick up on John's important point that there is something different about this. I mean, antisemitism is, of course, the through line, but we shouldn't sanitize what's happening in the sense of these, especially the last two. What this D.C. and then, of course, Boulder are very performative, not just the videos and the public nature and the targeting. In the D.C. case, it was like a hunt. It was -- it felt like a mafia killing. And especially because we know that both victims suffered multiple gunshots.
And in this case, the burning aspect of it, which is that not only horrible and painful, but the victim will know that they are suffering and that could potentially die. It's that aspect of it that that pure hate through line. I don't mean to suggest other things aren't hate. That makes these very different. And the consequence of that is twofold.
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One, of course it is. It is very understandable. The fears in the Jewish community, because terrorism can seem random for victims. You're at the wrong hotel. You're at the wrong Boston marathon at the wrong time, right?
But in this instance, it doesn't. It's not only a specific group of people, it does seem to be targeted on individuals. And secondly, it's very hard to defend against the -- you know, were it's not only random, these perpetrators do not appear to be part of any larger group.
And these are instances where a Jewish group was organizing quite publicly and benignly, a walk, they're all relatively, relatively senior citizens. Two weeks ago in D.C., it was a people forget this. It was a meeting of young diplomats to cut across all the noise and to have Israelis and others meet together as future leaders.
HUNT: Right. It's a really good point.
Shimon, what more can you tell us about the victims of this attack and how they're doing? PROKUPECZ: So, some are doing better. You know, you talked about the
Holocaust survivor. I've actually been in touch with her. It's been kind of difficult to get a hold of her. She's just in a state of shock.
Having gone through this, she herself was injured. She's okay. Her daughter was here, too. Her daughter was more seriously injured. So, she's really just trying to focus on her right now.
The other victims, my understanding from community members. And that's the thing here, Kasie, that's so striking, is that everyone here knows each other. Like these victims, these community members, they all know each other. And everyone knows at least someone who may have been involved in this.
And so, for all of them, this is really, truly being felt. And also in the days to come, what is this going to mean? There's a Jewish festival, a major Jewish festival planned here for Sunday. Many are asking if it's safe for that to continue.
So, this feeling and this sort of shock, but also this fear of, you know, could this happen again? Thats going to continue now for days. Of course, the community, they're going to rally together, they're going to get together. And the police are saying they're going to give them the protection that they need. But you really just can't go anywhere here without talking to someone who knows somebody that may have been involved in this.
And this is really just left this community just a state of shock right now.
HUNT: For that reporting.
Jonah Goldberg, just as we sort of think about the big picture here, I guess I feel like I shouldn't be stunned that this is what happens in America, but I still am stunned that this is America. You know, I had a grandfather who fought in World War II. We as a country were fighting you know, the results of virulent antisemitism that had spread to an unbelievable degree. And of course, now somebody that was involved in that being touched by this violence here in America in 2025.
What does it say about not just where we are, but where we're going?
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Nothing great. I think -- look, boiling frog analogies are often overdone, but there's been a remarkable amount of tolerance for antisemitism on the left for a long time. And now increasingly on the right. In part because it gets reactions from people that stored up moral capital. It promotes engagement on social media. So, you see it all over the place.
The rhetoric that we saw on the campus protests -- well, you know, people calling to globalize the intifada, this is what globalizing the intifada looks like. And I'm not saying that everybody who calls for globalizing intifada wants to burn old ladies in the street. but, we hear a lot of lecturing of the right for their irresponsible rhetoric. And I partake in that all the time.
But it's a two-way street. There's a lot of irresponsible rhetoric on the left that doesn't get nearly the kind of social and elite censure that it does -- that the rhetoric on the right does. And if you just have a rule of thumb, that one in every 100,000 people are going to take that kind of rhetoric literally rather than just figuratively. You're going to see things like this.
And in in New York City, there's been violent -- antisemitic violence against Jews for a long time now, and it was basically been sort of soft-pedaled by the authorities.
HUNT: And it shouldn't be.
All right. Shimon Prokupecz, John Miller, Juliette Kayyem, very grateful to have you.
Our panel is, of course, going to stand by for our conversations throughout the hour.
Up next in THE ARENA, we're going to stand by for that news conference in boulder, law enforcement officials expected to provide new details on this horrific antisemitic attack that we have been covering.
And then there's this in politics, Senator Joni Ernst just picked up a challenger in her next reelection bid. Why an Iowa Democrat says he was inspired by comments like this one.
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SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well.
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HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
Senators returned to Capitol Hill today with the president's, quote, Big, Beautiful Bill, end quote, at the top, really the only item on the agenda. Republicans hoping to have the spending bill on the president's desk by July 4th. It is ambitious deadline. Several Republican senators still on the fence.
CNN's Manu Raju joins us now from Capitol Hill.
Manu, it does seem like the Majority Leader John Thune doesn't have the votes at this writing.
You talk to him?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I just caught up with him about the plans and he set a very ambitious timetable to try to get this to Donald Trump's desk by July 4th.
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And that would require them to resolve major differences within the senate GOP over this sweeping proposal. Remember, it's not only a multitrillion dollar tax code overhaul, but also more than $1 trillion worth of spending cuts and huge plus up in spending for defense programs. Those border security, new immigration measures and the like.
But it is those tax provisions, as well as the spending cuts that have badly divided Republicans and in the House and the Senate. And John Thune can only afford to lose three Republican votes on a party-line vote.
There are several issues that they need to work through, one of which is to deal with how to deal with the issue of Medicaid cuts, new work requirements being proposed by the House GOP sets an ambitious time frame for implementing those under the proposal.
That has gotten some pushback among some members within the Senate GOP, as well as other areas, including phasing out green energy tax credits, which are favored by some Republican senators. Also, a lot of division over how to structure that tax code, overhaul different ideas and proposals being pushed by a variety of members.
John Thune will have to iron all those out, but what he just told us, Kasie, is that he said that the bill will have to, quote, be tracked fairly closely to the bill, the House bill. He cited the House GOP's fragile majority, which is why he wants it to align closely to the House bill. But he said there are some things that senators want added to the bill are things that we would do slightly differently.
But still, Kasie, there is significant concern that this bill would add trillions of dollars to the deficits over the years. Some of those deficit hawks in the Senate GOP want deeper spending cuts, but that's only going to cause those more moderate members to recoil. So just shows you the balancing act that Thune will have to engage in to get this over the finish line by his new, ambitious time frame, July 4th on the president's desk.
HUNT: Yeah, it's going to be quite the summer for you and for the majority leader. Manu, thank you. Really appreciate it.
So, of course, the central flashpoint in the Big, Beautiful Bill has been the impact on Medicaid, as Americans have voiced their concerns about the bill in town halls across the country. Remember, senators are back home for the Memorial Day recess.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, at one point responded this way to a constituent. Take a look.
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CROWD: People will die.
ERNST: We -- people are not -- well, we all are going to die.
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HUNT: Well, fact check, true. We are all going to die.
But of course, she got some blowback for having that be her response to a constituent. We're just going to show you what her apology looked like. It's worth noting you can probably see it if you look carefully in the background, she is taping this from 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Okay. Our panel is back. Marc Short I have to say, I can do sarcasm along with the best of them, but like. Yeesh!
MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Look, Joni's a great senator. She's going to be fine politically.
But I think Republican and the messaging here, we have to talk about the fact that ten years ago, there were 50 million people in Medicaid. Today, we're at 78, 79 million people. It is unsustainable. And people on Medicaid are not getting the best health.
What the Republican plan does is simply to say that those who are able bodied should be working. That is something that a vast majority of Americans agree with if you say, do you support Medicaid cuts, the vast majority disagree with that. If you say simply, should people who are able and physically able to work be required to work, or at least be at least seeking a job, the vast majority of people agree with that. And that's what Republicans should be talking about.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, one of the problems here, though, is that you have members like Josh Hawley, hardly known as a liberal or moderate, saying that actually this bill is deeply problematic because of what it does to Medicare.
SHORT: Sure. But Josh Hawley has changed a lot. He's become a very big government Republican these days who supported vast new regulations and vast new government programs.
HUNT: Marc, I mean, and I appreciate this because obviously you're a card-carrying Republican on the panel, but this is not -- this did not used to be an issue where if you said the Republican plan is this and it's to cut, you know, it's to -- yes, you would you would be speaking for everybody. But like, you're not in the Republican Party, right? Like that's what this fight is about. There are many Republicans who think that the Medicaid cuts go too deep.
SHORT: Absolutely. I think that that's true. I mean, I'm sitting here thinking it was 53 senators when we passed this bill in 2017. We really had 51 because John McCain was ill. We would have loved to have had the sort of flexibility of 53. But there are more divisions in our party now which makes it harder.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And the message can't be Joni Ernst message, which is like, hey, you're going to die anyway.
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SHORT: Yeah, agree.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Why not? Sooner rather than later? That's not a winning message.
SHORT: We should be talking about able bodied people being allowed to work. That should be the messaging for the Republicans as opposed to talking, falling into Democrat talking points about cuts.
HUNT: I mean, so Mo Elleithee, you've been -- you've been a political consultant, would you have advised Joni Ernst to do that?
MO ELLEITHEE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGETOWN INSTITUTE OF POLITICS & PUBLIC SERVICE: No. But I -- but I'd say like it does tell us a lot about the times, right? It does tell us that in today's political world, and today's media environment, the driving ideology for a lot of folks is simply troll, right? Like that becomes the ideology.
It's to own the libs. It's to mock your opponents. It's to mock your constituents.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Clearly, Democrats are doing this too. This isn't just something on the right. This is something on the left.
ELLEITHEE: And like I said, a sign of the times. We are in an era now where because of the clicks because of the media attention, trolling your constituents when you and I were coming up in the business, they were the last people you would mock, your constituents. Here's where we are now.
GOLDBERG: So I think another thing that's changed is that it used to be that if you were in favor of more generous entitlements, generous Medicaid benefits, whatever, and a Republican, that meant you were a Susan Collins, a squishy, moderate kind of person. But because of the changing nature of the demographics of the Trump coalition, you now get hardcore cultural right wingers who have the politics of squishy RINO Republicans and Democrats.
So, Josh Hawley is a right wing, big government guy now, and that makes sense for him, given the demographics of the coalition that he's going for. And that's who Donald Trump is. Remember, Donald Trump yelled at the GOP caucus saying, don't F around with Medicare.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But the problem with Donald Trump is that he encompasses all these complexities, right? On the one hand, he's a populist who is talking about big government. On the other hand, he is a sort of, you know, let's cut taxes and help wealthy people and everyone else. So, it's a complicated picture.
SHORT: The administration was trying to raise the top tax rate here. The J.D. Vance, Josh Hawley part was looking to propose an increase in the top tax rate. That is the biggest between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0. The first administration was conservative in policy. This one is decidedly populist.
ELLEITHEE: Right. I mean, the problem with today is politics are the Republican Party and to some extent, the Democratic Party. Ten years ago, your earlier frame would have been the dominant one. When our politics was defined by left versus right. What is the appropriate size and scope of government?
But that's not where we're at, right? Our politics today is more front versus back. People who feel like they're stuck at the back of the line versus everyone in front of them.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's class.
ELLEITHEE: It's class. It is populist on both the left and the right. And so, it is a very difficult place, I would think, heading into midterms for Republicans to be out there owning cuts to these programs that are going to hurt the people who feel like they are stuck at the back of the line, especially since most of them are coming in their states.
Joni Ernst might be fine. You're probably right. But this is now becoming, I think, a problem for the party, writ large.
And don't get me wrong, we're struggling with it too in the Democratic Party. But I think that's why people like Josh Hawley are making so much noise, because they get it. What, you know, the whole size of government.
SHORT: I'm not sure I agree with your whole premise. But I think their solution is wrong. They think that, as Jonah said, that the Trump coalition was born on economic issues. I think it was on cultural issues.
They look at it and say, hey, he won all these blue-collar voters, so we need to adopt the labor union economics, the Democrat party. And I just think that's mistaken.
HUNT: Right. So, speaking of populists and how the parties began this shift, you may remember back to when Republicans, with help from Democrats, bailed out the big banks, started the Tea Party, which is in part some of this.
The overlying sort of economic trend lines that we're looking at, it's driven in part by tariffs, but there are other things at hand, have people like Jamie Dimon, who, of course, runs one of those big banks and is someone who President Trump seems to listen to. He did an interview on Fox Business, and he had a pretty intense warning for the country.
Let's play it. And we want to talk about it on the other side. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS HOST: How much are you focused on debt and deficits right now?
JAMIE DIMON, JPMORGAN CHASE CEO: It's a big deal. You know, it is a real problem. One day, we're going to have the bond markets going to have a tough time. I don't know if its six months or six years. If people decide that the U.S. dollar isn't the place to be, yeah, you could see, you know, spreads gap out. You know, credit spreads gap out. And that will become a problem.
We had that during COVID. The Fed promptly stepped in there. We had that in 2019. We had it in 20 -- it will happen again. It's just -- I can almost guarantee you that. I just don't know exactly when or what the trigger might be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Jonah Goldberg, he's saying there might be a crack in the bond market, which obviously Americans revolted when they felt like big banks were getting treated a certain way. He's making an argument that we need to have less regulation, so banks can do more to prevent this.
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I think we should underscore that if there's actually a crack in the bond market, the implications for everyday Americans are enormous and quite frankly, scary.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, no, they would potentially catastrophic. And this is why James Carville famously once said that he used to want to be reincarnated or born again as a 500 hitter or a pope or a president. But then he decided he wanted to come back as the bond market, because they're the ones who are really powerful.
And I think there's a lot of truth to that is that the bond market gets a vote on this stuff. And if you see interest already, interest on the debt is becoming one of the largest items in the federal budget. And it would get much, much worse very, very quickly if we had if we lost the status of the dollar as a reserve currency, it could be a catastrophe.
And the reason why bond markets got so skittish last week is that there's just no sounds from the Republican Republicans who control Congress, that they take debt seriously anymore.
SHORT: Neither party is being honest with the American people. We're $36 trillion in debt. You know, we used to sound the alarm bells at $6 trillion, $7 trillion, $8 trillion. We're now at $36 trillion in debt. And neither party has come up with a solution to address entitlements.
As Jonah said, for the first time in American history, if you add up Social security, Medicare and Medicaid and interest on the debt, its more than the revenue we bring in. If we even touch domestic spending. HUNT: Mo, one thing I've noticed, too, is that there does seem to be
Democrats who are sounding the alarm on this more aggressively than, again, like up is down and left is right, and Josh Hawley wants not to cut Medicaid.
And then Peter Orszag, who was Obama's OMB director, is out there saying, I remember when they were fighting with Republicans and Republicans were saying, hey, Obama, folks, you're like adding way too much to the debt. And now, Orszag is like, hey, guys, we got to worry about the debt. Like, up is down.
ELLEITHEE: Yeah, no, look, I mean, all of this is scrambled. And I do agree with Marc that no one is being totally honest with people about it. And I think we're seeing a reckoning now, this reckoning is being accelerated by a lot of what we're seeing coming out of this administration. Right?
The fact that Trump's on again, off again tariff policy is creating all this uncertainty. For everyone from small business owners to the market, all of that is creating this tremendous sense of anxiety out there. And at the end of the day, right, Democrats are going to be likely heading into this midterm with a message that he promised to make your life easier. And it's not.
He promised, you've got less money in your pocket. You've got less money in your retirement account. You're about to lose your health care if you're at a certain income level and the good faith and credit of the United States is under pressure. Like that's, I think what the choice is going to be next year.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think that's true. But I also think that Democrats may not necessarily benefit from this. I mean, we've seen poll after poll showing that Democrats are not trusted on this issue, that Republicans are more trusted on the economy.
So there's a lot of work to do on the left if they're going to benefit from the failures of the right.
HUNT: My aforementioned grandfather, who fought in World War II, has got to be, I don't know, mind blown by everything that's happening in America today.
Soon on CNN, any moment, law enforcement officials are going to hold a news conference with updates on Sunday's antisemitic attack in Boulder. We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it starts.
And then this -- if you can't beat them, learn from them? Maryland governor potential 2020 candidate Wes Moore has this message for Democrats.
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GOV. WES MOORE (D), MARYLAND: We can and we must condemn Donald Trump's reckless actions. We will be foolish not to learn from his impatience.
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J. BISHOP GREWELL, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO: -- who worked to quickly end this violent attack, save lives, and tend to those who were injured.
I also want to thank our law enforcement partners at Boulder police, including Chief Redfearn, the FBI, including special agent in charge Michalek, and the Boulder D.A.s office, including D.A. Michael Dougherty. They worked hand in hand with my office as the matter was thoroughly investigated and prepared for charges.
And I want to thank our partners in D.C., including Attorney General Bondi, Director Kash Patel and Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Civil Rights, Harmeet Dhillon, for their support.
My office and AAG Dhillon were in contact yesterday throughout the day, which helped lead to the federal charge that were announcing today. My office has charged Mohammed Sabry Soliman, age 45, with the commission of a hate crime under 18 USC Section 249. When that offense includes attempted murder, the statutory maximum federal sentence is life in prison.
No one should ever be subjected to violence of any kind. But our laws recognize that such violence is particularly pernicious when someone is targeted because of their race, their religion, or their national origin.
According to our complaint and the charges brought by D.A. Dougherty's office, Mr. Soliman stated that he had been planning this attack for a year, and he acted because he hated what he called the Zionist group. But what the charges allege that he did was to throw Molotov cocktails at a group of men and women, some of them in their late 80s, burning them as they peacefully walked on a Sunday to draw attention to Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
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And when he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die. He had no regrets, and he would go back and do it again. He said that he had previously tried to purchase a firearm, but resorted to the Molotov cocktails when he could not purchase a gun because he was not a legal citizen.
I remind you that Mr. Soliman is presumed innocent until proven guilty. My office and our partners hope justice will help heal the people in this community and in the communities throughout the country shaken by yesterday's attack.
We fully intend to hold Mr. Solomon accountable for his actions and these charges are the first step. Thank you.
I'm going to turn it over to D.A. Michael Dougherty. MICHAEL DOUGHERTY, BOULDER DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Good afternoon. I'm
Michael Dougherty. I'm the district attorney for boulder county. I appreciate the members of the media who are here today, so we can help provide this update to a grieving and traumatized community.
What you see here today is us standing shoulder to shoulder, ensuring that justice is done in response to this tragic and terrible attack. We stand united in denouncing hate, terror and violence in this community. We are united in condemning acts of antisemitism. Hate and violence, and we're also united in a strong response to this horrific attack.
I stand with this community and the people of the state of Colorado against hate and terror, and we are united in our commitment, both at the federal level and the state level, in pursuing and securing justice for the victims of this mass attack and for the communities that we serve. Boulder is a beautiful and special place, but we're not immune from mass violence or hate crimes, including violent acts of antisemitism that impact far too many communities across this country.
And yesterday afternoon, on a beautiful day here in Colorado, a number of people participated in a peaceful walk and gathering on Pearl Street here in Boulder. It is a place where a lot of people gather every day, and the ones who join in this peaceful gathering are now the victims of a senseless, unjustified and horrific mass attack. And to all the victims, their loved ones and to this community, I promise you that each one of us up here today will work tirelessly to ensure that justice is done, and the defendant is held fully accountable.
I want to recognize, as the U.S. attorney did, the response by community members who helped in the minutes immediately following the attack and came to render aid to victims who had suffered through a horrific attack upon them. Also, I want to recognize the courage and the rapid response by the boulder police department, who once again were called to respond to a truly horrific attack upon innocent members of our community and responded without a second of delay. I will highlight for you that there were 16 unused Molotov cocktails that were recovered by law enforcement in the hours after the incident took place, 16.
So, I really want to thank the Boulder police department and their law enforcement responders, as well as the first responders who provided medical aid to the victims. But that rapid response, with the recovery of the 16 unused Molotov cocktails, I think, speaks for itself. Our office and the U.S. attorney's office will be working closely together and in coordination with one another to ensure that the defendant is held fully accountable.
As you heard from the U.S. attorney, the U.S. attorney's office will be prosecuting the hate crime against the defendant. Our office will be prosecuting the attempted murder charges and related charges at the state level. This approach will accurately reflect the actions the defendant is alleged to have taken and the harm's that he caused. It will allow us to secure a verdict, an outcome, a sentence whereby he'll be held fully accountable. It's been done. And by it, I mean federal and state prosecutions jointly has been done. In other cases. Most recently, the Club Q mass shooting down in Colorado Springs.
At the time, the arrest affidavit and warrant were filed with the state court. Yesterday, there were eight victims identified. And I will touch briefly now on the charges that were filed at the state level, as well as the possible sentences he faces if convicted on those charges.
So, there were 16 counts of attempted murder in the first degree. Eight of those counts are for attempted murder with intent, and after deliberation, the other eight counts, or are attempted murder with extreme indifference. So, 16 counts total.
If the defendant is convicted and those counts are run -- running consecutive to one another, he would face a maximum of 384 years in state prison. He's also charged with two counts of use of an incendiary device. If convicted of those charges and they run consecutive, he would face a maximum sentence of 48 years. He's also charged with 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device.
And again, if convicted, and if they run consecutive, the maximum on those counts would be 192 years. So, 384 years on the attempted murder, 48 on the use of the Molotov cocktails, and then the attempted use would be 192 years.
The judge set a $10 million cash only bond on the state charges. As you are aware, he's going to be going before the judge this afternoon at the jail. I believe that is scheduled for 3:30, but I rely on the sheriff's office to communicate with members of the media of the exact time.
Thanks to the investigation by federal, state and local partners. And I just want to highlight for you this is a horrific attack. But as district attorney, when I walk into this building and I see the FBI, Boulder PD and all the law enforcement partners working, it's the exact response I hope to see.
The teamwork they demonstrate, the work they put into it, if you were downstairs right now, you'd see incredible law enforcement officers and investigators working calmly, professionally and tirelessly to ensure we get all the information we need to get the right outcome in the criminal cases that the U.S. attorney's office and my office will prosecute. Through their work, we've now identified four additional victims. There's now a total of 12 victims.
And as you'll hear from the FBI special agent in charge, we're going to continue to encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and contact law enforcement. But we now have 12 victims. And on the -- later this week, we'll be filing formal charges against him. That's our normal process. So, the filing of formal charges by the district attorney's office will reflect 12 victims. And if more come forward, additional victims as well.
On my final note, what I want to stress is this community has experienced too many tragedies, fires, floods and mass attacks. But each time I've seen this great community respond with strength, strength, resilience and support for one another. I trust and hope that that will happen again. Now that for the many members of the community who've come forward before to help one another, to support one another, to comfort one another, that that will happen again today. And in the weeks, months and months going forward, that once again, our community will rally to restore peace and to bring support and comfort one another during this dark hour.
As your district attorney, I want to remind the members of the media and the community that the defendant is innocent unless and until proven guilty, and the charges are merely allegations.
I'm going to turn it over to the special agent in charge of the FBI, and then were happy to take questions after each one of us is done. Thank you.
MARK MICHALEK, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI DENVER: Good afternoon. I'm Mark Michalek, special agent in charge of the FBI's Denver Field Office. I want to provide a quick investigative update.
The FBI has been here on the scene in Boulder for the past 24 hours. And we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Boulder Police Department and our partners. Their heroic and swift actions clearly saved lives. As mentioned, there were 16 unused Molotov cocktails within arms reach of the subject at the time of his arrest, so there is no question that the first responders saved lives and prevented further victims from being injured.
And I think the fact that we have both federal and state charges within 24 hours of this attack is a testament to the strength of the partnerships, the professionalism of the investigators and our commitment to the community and to each other to pursue justice. We continue to support the victims, their families and the greater community with personnel and resources.
Our hearts go out to the victims, and we want you to know that we are committed to being here for you. Since 2:00 yesterday, more than 30 special agents, intelligence experts and professional staff have deployed to provide forensic, investigative and crisis management support, as well as additional resources are being searched from other field offices and at our headquarters in Washington, D.C., and they're on the way.
While at this time it appears the perpetrator acted alone, we do continue to investigate all possibilities and pursue all investigative leads. If we uncover evidence that others knew of this attack or supported the subject in this attack, rest assured that we will aggressively move to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
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Since the investigation began 24 hours ago, the FBI has conducted 44 witness interviews. We've executed search warrants on vehicles, property and digital devices. We've deployed our full evidence response team, both to boulder at the crime scene and the execution of a search warrant at a residence tied to the subject in Colorado springs. Members of the ERT worked through the night to gather all evidence so
that the pearl street could swiftly be reopened this morning. We've deployed victim specialists to hospitals and assigned one to each and every victim that's been identified to date.
We've set up a digital media tip line. Weve deployed a mobile command post for information sharing and evidence control, and we continue to canvass for witnesses, additional victims and camera footage.
We ask that you call us at 1-800-CALL-FBI if you have any information about the events that transpired yesterday. If you saw something, if you heard something, if you have information, our investigators want to hear from you. If you have multimedia evidence, whether that is photos, social media posts or videos related to the attack, please visit the site that we've established and you can provide your information at FBI.gov/boulderattack.
We at the FBI are not tracking any credible threats to the boulder community at this time. However, if you see something suspicious, we urge you to call 911. The FBI takes seriously its mission to protect the American people of the United States, both nationally as well as here and in boulder. Hate fueled acts of violence have no place in our community, and we will use every tool and resource available to hold those who commit such acts fully accountable.
And I'll turn it over to Chief Redfearn.
CHIEF STEPHEN REDFEARN, BOULDER POLICE: Thank you. Good afternoon again. My name is Stephen Redfearn. I have the honor to serve as the police chief here in Boulder.
I want to give a few updates from the city and the police department before we take some questions. So today, in the aftermath of this heinous terrorist attack in our city, I again want to start with thanking our partners. I think we've all alluded to the importance of partnerships. I can tell you, as I was rushing to the scene yesterday, one of the first or second calls I made was to the special agent in charge because no matter what this ended up being, I knew we would need help. And once again, the FBI, all of our state, local and federal partners have stepped up and we are absolutely in a really good place for 24 hours into this investigation, in my opinion.
Michael Dougherty alluded to it, but the work that I've seen in this building and out on the street in the last 24 hours is remarkable. And every single person working on this investigation is doing their job above and beyond, to bring justice to these victims, including the men that stand behind me here. And I'm grateful.
The scene, as you may know, around two in the morning we released the scene. So as of this time we have no active closures in downtown Boulder. We have no areas closed off. We spent an extensive amount of time yesterday up until the early morning hours today with bomb dogs, our bomb squads, ensuring that there were no other threats in the area and people were allowed after midnight to go back and get vehicles and businesses have been allowed to reopen if they so choose. I can tell you, this morning, I walked down Pearl Street with members
of my team. I interacted with a lot of business owners, community out there, and the way I felt leaving there was I was heartened. I was heartened by the resilience of our community, the positive attitude that people had, the understanding of the inconvenience of yesterday with businesses having to close. And really, I walked out of that thinking, you know, were going to be okay. Once again, as a community, we're going to recover after coming together.
A little bit more on community. So, we are aware of events this week. Were aware of things coming up in the next. We're looking 7 to 10 days out at other events, and we are going to ensure, along with our partners that we have adequate coverage, law enforcement coverage, security at any event that's taking place this week.
We want to ensure that people feel comfortable and safe in this community, gathering and remembering what happened, as well as any other planned events that we have. We will be relying upon our partners, such as the state patrol, to ensure that we have proper coverage where people can feel safe. Before this attack, we had very strong -- the Boulder Police Department, the city of Boulder had very strong relationships with our Jewish community. We even have an officer assigned as a Jewish community liaison with Boulder PD.
Those relationships have paid off dividends during this attack, and I know going forward in the aftermath, we're going to continue to work with our community.
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I've been in contact via phone, email and text throughout the day and last night with members of our Jewish community. Myself and the district attorney will be leaving shortly to have a meeting with community leaders from our Jewish community as well. The message there, the bottom-line message is we want everyone to feel safe. We will not condone these types of attacks and acts in our community.
I will reiterate what was prior said. It is never an inconvenience for someone to call the police if they feel uncomfortable about a situation, if they see something odd, if they see a person acting in a suspicious manner, let us come out and let us determine if there is some validity to people's suspicions. That's why we are here.
So please call us if you see something literally the old see something, say something adage applies here. Please call us if there's anything that's making you feel uncomfortable in the community.
And lastly, I just want to say again, we have been contacted the city and the police department from all over the world with outpouring of support, messages of support. And I want to thank you. It matters. It makes a difference going forward. So, I appreciate all of that.
With that, I'm going to turn it back over to our public information officers for some questions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. I will try to call on people for questions. And I will repeat the question hopefully so everybody can hear it and then turn it over to our experts for answers.
Yeah. Tony?
REPORTER: Chief, or anybody up there, do we have any new video showing how he walked in with these 16, 18, 19 Molotov cocktails? Thats not a long walk trip. Anything you've been able to discover to show how they got there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the question is, do we have any new video evidence about how he entered the area with Molotov cocktails? He had?
REDFEARN: I'm behind you.
Thank you for the question. We are as I speak -- we have teams of detectives partnered with FBI on Pearl Street, going business to business door to door that were piecing together a timeline using video license plate readers, all of those things relying heavily on our federal partners. As of right now, I have not been made aware that we actually have video of him carrying anything into that area.
Obviously, we're looking at that. And if someone were to have that video, please contact the 1-800 number that the special agent in charge mentioned. Or you can contact us as well at BPD. There's a high likelihood it's out there. And we just -- I don't know the existence of it yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Dave?
REPORTER: Yes. Can you tell us any updates on the eight original victims and then any more information on the four people that you've identified as well?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question is if we can provide additional information about the eight victims that we previously mentioned and the new four that came up today.
REDFEARN: Thank you.
Regarding the victims prior to this press conference, I received an update that we still have two victims in the hospital. I believe those are the two that were flown to university hospital in Aurora. I believe the victims, the additional victims that we learned of today, the reason we didn't know about them until today was their injuries, thankfully, were more minor in nature. They've come forward to be interviewed and things. And then we realized that they did have injuries.
So, we're counting everyone who received any sort of injury in this attack in that number. So as far as I'm aware right now, two people still in the hospital and again, we're -- our thoughts are with them as they recover.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Right here.
REPORTER: Do you know how many people were in the original peaceful march from the group that was there originally? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the question is, do we know how many people
were participating in the group's peaceful march on Sunday?
REPORTER: I do not have an exact number of the people that were there for the peaceful gathering. What I can say, though, is when we responded to the scene, there were probably 20 to 30 people in that vicinity. Some of them were witnesses. Not all of them were there specifically to take part in that weekly gathering.
And so, I don't know that, but in the area, we had 20 to 30 folks right there at the courthouse with a lot of other people coming and going with the businesses right there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, we're here.
REPORTER: For the U.S. attorney. This was initially classified by the FBI as a terrorism investigation. Is the hate crime charge a terrorism charge, or did something change in the charging decision?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the question is for the U.S. attorney's office about the fact that yesterday terrorism was mentioned and we see a hate crime charge today? And can we explain that?
GREWELL: So, we've moved swiftly to charge quickly just to send the message to the community that no acts of antisemitism are going to be tolerated, and there are severe consequences. Just because there's only one charge that has been made so far doesn't mean that we're not considering other charges that could come in the future.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes?
REPORTER: Can we get some clarity, chief? We're hearing UC Health says they have three victims there. Or is it 3 or 2?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question is about victims at UC Health.
